This Isn't Our World Anymore
by Aaron Senger
Summary: A different group of survivors struggle as they try to survive in a zombified world. Set in the same universe as The Walking Dead.
1. New Beginnings

"The weather sure is rainy lately."

Carter took one last puff of his cigarette and tossed it out the car window.

"Yep, I hear ya." He replied, enthused.

"It'll be nice to finally take a trip out of this miserable town."

"Lets just hope there's cute boys and hot weather the whole time were in Hawaii." Amanda exclaimed, excitedly.

Carter just smirked and looked out the window at the rain. The two pulled into Carter's driveway and came to a stop."Is your mom home tonight or is she working late again?" Asked Amanda as she brushed her short red hair to the side.

"Yeah, she is probably gonna' be back by 9 tonight. She wants to give us a ride to the airport tomorrow morning I believe; At least that's what my step dad was saying."  
Carter paused for a second. "I think she might actually be excited for us to leave. We've been fighting so much lately."

"Well so what, were going to Hawaii bitch! Turn that frown upside down and be happy for once. This is going to be a great experience for us!" Amanda grinned and got out of the car. The two went inside.

"Hey Joyce, how've you and John been? I heard about your promotion, just wanted to congratulate you. Amanda said as the two walked into the house.

"Awe thanks Amanda, we've been good!" Carter's mom replied.

"Well were going to go pack and then get some rest." Carter said.

"Are you sure you guys don't want dinner first? I made lots!"

"No, its fine we already ate." Carter mumbled as he and Amanda hurried upstairs. Amanda helped Carter pack up the rest of his clothes and then they laid down to watch a movie.

_**Carter ran through the forest, flames were everywhere, the farther he ran the more flames there seemed to be. Something was chasing him. He ran until he turned to look at the wrong time and tripped over a log.**_

That's when he awoke and heard it. A bloodcurdling scream and the sound of shattering glass shook the whole house. Carter recognized the shouts from his mother coming from downstairs and immediately ran down. He reached the bottom of the stairs where his mom stood, pale-faced and distraught.

There was blood everywhere.

Then he saw. On the living room floor of the house he had grown up in, Carter saw his stepfathers remains being torn apart and eaten by another person. The giant living room window was shattered and numerous amounts of what looked like dead people were slowly walking towards them. Carter couldn't process any of this, nor could Joyce. The two just stood there frozen, scared and confused as the group came closer.

It wasn't until the sound of Amanda screaming that Carter knew he needed to move.  
He turned around to see a horrified Amanda crying behind him. He wasn't sure how long she had been standing there. Without much thought, Carter grabbed Amanda's hand, pushed past his mom and screamed at them both to run as fast as they could and to follow him. Both did so.

The three ran out the back door of Joyce and Carter's home and ran to the front of the house to the driveway. Carter jumped in the passenger side, Amanda took the back and Joyce stepped on it, speeding out of the driveway and towards town.

The town was almost unrecognizable. Amanda stared at the people. "What is wrong with them?" She thought. So much was running through her mind.

When they reached the "Welcome to Terrace" sign on the outskirts of town Joyce pulled over at the side of the road and began to sob.

"What is going on?!" She yelled, crying.

"Mom. We need to keep moving. Please.." Carter said.

"John's dead. That man in there, he ripped his fucking face open!" Joyce whimpered.

"We have to go back."

"Joyce, we should really keep moving. If we just go we can try and find a safe zone. They have stuff like that when there's war and stuff right?" Amanda said.

"No. No, All our family's here. We cant give up on them... Please for the love of god."

"Mom please listen to us. We need to leave before those people try to come after us to." Carter said nervously.

"We need to get Grandma. Oh my god, we need to go back for her Carter! She is too old to defend herself." Joyce continued to sob.

"Let's get her then. And then were out of here! This is all just too much." Amanda said.

Joyce turned the car around and drove towards Terrace.

They stopped in front of Carter's grandmother's home. He noticed that the neighborhood that he once grew up in was burning to the ground. All the memories of the past just burning away as if they never happened at all..

"I'm going in for her, wait here." Joyce quickly said as she ran out of the car and into the house.

"I have to go after her." Carter said before getting out as well.

"I'll wait here, its safer. Please hurry.." Amanda said.

Carter ran inside.

The house had no power and was pitch black. Carter slowly crept into the kitchen seeing no one. He quietly called out for his mom but there was no reply. He then slowly walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Carter I can't find her." Joyce shouted from what sounded like upstairs.

Carter walked towards the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs he heard his mother scream. Without a second thought he ran opened the bedroom door and saw his mom cornered by a woman.

"Get lost you crazy bitch!" Carter screamed.

The woman turned around revealing to be his grandmother only, she looked as though she had been decaying for weeks. Carter screamed as his grandma knocked him to the floor. His mother screamed his name.

His grandma fell on top of him. He pushed her off quickly and grabbed the first weapon he could find, a nail file.

"Go to the car mom!" He shouted.

Joyce ran out of the room.

Carter stabbed his grandmother in the hand as she reached for him. Nothing seemed to happen. Carter began backing away slowly as she stood up, and in a fraction of a second a loud bang was heard. Carter didn't see what was going on, but he dropped to the floor as glass flew everywhere. He heard a thud, and then silence. Carter looked up after a few seconds and saw his grandmother had been shot right through the head.

Then, a man burst into the room wearing army gear. Along with a terrified Joyce and Amanda behind him.  
"Are you okay?!" The man asked concerned as he helped Carter up.

"I.. I think so."

"Good. Now you folks mind tellin' me why you haven't evacuated the town yet?" The man asked.

"We came back for his grandma, but she.. She's ddifferent now.. Like the others.." Amanda answered.

"You guys don't know do you..?"

"Know... What?" Carter asked.

"It was all over the news.. A virus was found to be spreading like wildfire throughout the U.S, and after about two days it spread throug a large portion of the world. It's a strange virus that changes one's appearance and kills all brain activity. The infected feed on people. The virus is spread by contact with the infected, such as being bitten or in some cases, even just scratched."

"The only way I know of to stop them is to kill them, by damaging their brain." The man said.  
"I was sent here along with my team to help keep the virus under control and to help those who hadnt yet been infected. We have a small camp about half a day's drive from here."

"So where's your team now then?" Joyce asked, almost sounding angry.

"There were 20 of us sent to this area. 10 came to Terrace to find survivors but after a majority of us who came were killed, I ran." He said sadly.

"So you left your men behind? Real brave." Joyce sneered.

"If I stayed, I just would have ended up the same as them mam'."

"Look, I think ya'll should come with me. It would be much camp isn't too far and it is safe there and I have my gun and ammo on me." The man said.

"And whats to keep you from using that gun on us..?" Amanda asked, unsure.

"You're just gonna' have to trust me." He replied.

"But we don't even know your name..." Carter said.

"It's Private Samson. But you can just call me Matt." Matt said.

"I'm Carter, this is my mom Joyce and my friend Amanda."

"Nice to meet you all."

"I do suggest we get a move on though." Matt said.

The four walked outside and got into the Honda. They pulled out onto the road and began driving away from town. Carter watched the "Welcome to Terrace" sign fade in the distance as they drove further and further away. He knew that things were never going to be the same...

End of Chapter 1.


	2. Where Do We Go From Here?

Joyce and Amanda slept silently in the back of the car. It had been hours since leaving Terrace and all were exhausted.

"So... How 'bout that weather?" Asked Matt sarcastically.

Carter shook his head and smiled.

"How old are you anyway? 15?"

"Ha, as if." Carter replied.

"I'm actually 18, but thanks."

"I'm just bugging ya'." Matt said smiling.

"How are you so calm?" Asked Carter suspiciously.

"What do you mean?"

"You just don't seem THAT concerned, you know, considering everything that's going on and all.." Said Carter.

"Because I know everything will be okay."

"How can you say that?" Carter replied with anger in his voice.

"People are dying and you think it's all going to be okay? This isn't some fairy tail with a happy ending bud. This is real. Those things are real."

"Yea, but were still here aren't we?" He replied, mood unchanged.

"That has to mean something."

"Yeah... Right..." Carter said sarcastically.

Matt drove in silence for the rest of the day. He eventually stopped the car at an abandoned gas station and proceeded to get out of the car.

"What are you doing?" Amanda mumbled as she awoke from her nap.

"Stopping for some supplies, place looks empty, and I needed a break from driving."  
"I'll help." Carter said bravely.

"The more the merrier." Matt replied, flashing Carter his big smile.

Carter rolled his eyes.

"I'll come to, I don't feel like sitting in that car any longer." Said Amanda.

The three locked the doors and wandered to the station. Amanda looked up at the dark sky and let out a deep sigh.  
"You all right?" Asked Carter.

"Yea, I guess so. Just miss my family, you know?" She replied.

"I know." Carter answered quietly.

"I just keep telling myself they're all going to be okay. Maybe they really are. I mean, it's possible that my parents could have left town with my sister to find a safe zone like us. Maybe we'll see them when we get to the camp!"

"It's a possibility." Said Matt, still focused on searching around the station for any signs of the infected. Carter just looked down and said nothing. The three went inside the station.  
The inner shop smelled like rotten food. There were flies everywhere and the air felt thick.

"It smells like someone died in here..." Said Amanda, disgusted.

"Let's hope not." Matt replied.

Carter went behind the counter and gathered a few supplies while Matt stayed look out and Amanda followed behind. He found a first aid kit and some rope.

"It looks like someone already cleaned the place out. There's like nothing here." Said Carter unimpressed.

"Guys, I think that smell is getting worse.." Said Amanda.

"Check the shelves by the door." Matt said.

As Carter gathered some matches and a couple loaves of bread a loud crash was heard from behind the closed back door.

Amanda let out a scream.

A decaying arm came smashing through the window on the door and Matt shot at it. Two shots and it was down. But the noise didn't help the situation at all.

"Well, time to leave.." Yelled Carter heading for the entrance they came in through.

Two infected people came stumbling into the dark station cutting the three off from the only seeable way out of there. More began to come, at least a dozen were pushing and shoving their way in. Matt ran in the opposite direction, as did Amanda and Carter.

"Uhh.. I think we're going to have a problem here.." Matt said with terror in his voice.

"I have two shots left and then im out of ammo..."

"OH MY GOD." Amanda screamed.

Over a dozen were now creeping closer to their prey. Matt used his last two bullet to head shot two but it just wasn't enough. Carter watched as a flash of headlights shined through the window of the back door.

Just seconds later, Joyce came crashing through the door in the car, running over three of the infected. "Get in, and hurry!" Yelled Joyce.

The three quickly jumped into the car and Joyce pulled out, ripping the run over infected to pieces.

"That was crazy... Oh my god.." Amanda exclaimed.

"How'd you know what was happening?" Asked Carter curiously.

"The gunshots woke me up, I figured you all went in. Thanks for leaving me by the way." she said with a sad tone.

It was almost sunrise when they reached the trail to the camp. They were all exhausted and hungry, having not eaten for two days. They parked the car at the end of the trail and decided to walk the rest of the walk took a good 20 felt as though he could just collapse at any moment. When they reached the camp it looked empty.

"Shouldn't there be.. You know.. People here?" Amanda said.

"Yeah, there should be.." Matt replied

As they all got closer to the camp they saw three infected military officers wandering about.

"My group.. They.. They didn't make it.." Matt said almost in tears.

"I grew up with some of these men, they we're good people. Many were good friends of mine.. I don't understand how this could've happened.."

The entire camp was deserted. Everything left behind. Tents were scattered across the large grassy field and the mood shined on the surface of the lake. The group walked closer to the campsite but as they approached the group of infected turned and began to growl and stumble towards them.

"We should go. There's nothing here for us now." Joyce said quietly.

The group slowly walked back up the trail towards the car. Matt looked at the ground the entire walk, not speaking a word. Carter could tell this had really broken him down.

As they reached the car and Joyce and Amanda had settled into the car, Matt turned to Carter with tear filled eyes.

"I think you may have been right Carter."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"There really are no happy endings."

End of Chapter 2.


	3. Flesh Eaters

Amanda stared into the mirror, she looked tired. She missed her family and wondered if she would ever see them again. Part of her truly believed that they were fine, the other part wasn't so sure that was true. She had spoken to them the day she stayed the night at Carter's. She had spent time with them that morning, watched movies and went shopping with her older sister. Things had been going well in her life. She had a great relationship with her family and had plans to attend Vancouver Film School. All that was gone now. She felt hopeless.

"How am I going to make it through this?" She whispered to herself and she wiped the dirt from her face with her hands. Her red hair was a mess and had faded considerably. She just didn't feel much like herself anymore.

She wondered how the others were feeling. Matt seemed very down since the night they arrived at the campsite two days ago. She never got much of a chance to get to know him with all the things going on, and now that he has hardly spoken a word in two days she wondered how stable he could really be. They didn't even really know much about him, aside from being seemingly nice and that he had been a private in the military.

She felt slight anger towards Carter and his mother, though she had never brought it up. She didn't feel it was a good idea to start problems now, but the anger was there. "How is it fair that we had to risk our lives to go back for his grandmother, but we never bothered to go look for my family who could have been okay?" She wondered.

Amanda knew that not going back for her family was partially her fault for not saying anything at the time, but she couldn't help but put the blame on Carter and Joyce.

She pulled her grey shirt back on over her head, grabbed her purse and walked out of the bathroom and into the small pizza shop that the group had took refuge in when they had arrived in the small town of Stewart.

"We're going to search for food and supplies in the motel across the street. Matt has been paying attention to it and he says that it looks like it's safe enough to check out. Did you want to come with us? My mom will be here if you don't. We'd only be around a half hour." Carter asked Amanda as she walked into the room and put her bag down.

"You know I'm not really feeling that well, I think I'm just going to stay. Maybe get some rest." She replied.

"Okay, well hope you feel better."

"Me too, be careful." Amanda said.

"Ready to go?" Matt asked Carter.

"Yep."

"Be careful you two, if anything happens you better come straight back." Joyce said. Both guys gave her a small smile and she watched as they walked out the front door towards the motel.

"It's heartbreaking seeing him like that." Joyce said.

"Like what?" Asked Amanda while she grabbed two pieces of bread.

"Carter was always a quiet boy, he always kept to himself and had drifted from me and John. I felt like I didn't know him at all anymore, but now that we're in this situation together, he seems more quiet and withdrawn then ever. I know that everyone mourns in their own ways but he seems as though he doesn't care that I lost both my mother and my husband, people who helped raise him and have been big parts of my life. He just seems so-"

"Okay?" Amanda interrupted.

"Yes." She replied as Amanda handed her a piece of bread.

"Carter can keep things to himself quite well, but that doesn't mean that he isn't sad inside. He's just better at making it seem like he has it all together even when the rest of us feel like we're crumbling I guess." Amanda said.

"I just pray that we all make it. I don't want this world to be the last thing we remember." Joyce stared out the window and towards to motel.

"Yeah, hopefully.." Amanda stared in the same direction.

Matt and Carter walked on the parking lot of the motel. Carter carried a metal bar and Matt had a crowbar he found in the ally behind the pizza shop.

"Maybe we should split up, check the rooms on our own. We can get this done faster that way." Matt said.

"But what if something happens?" Asked Carter.

"Screaming can be a signal." Matt replied.

Carter stared at him with a scared look on his face.

"It'll be fine, we both have our weapons and we won't be too far away from each other so if something does happen the other will be on it." Matt said noticing Carter's nervousness.

"I hope you're right.." Carter replied.

The two split up. Matt headed for the right end of the motel and Carter went for the left. Matt reached the last door on the right and kicked it down, quickly turning his head to make sure he hadn't attracted any infected people. The only ones in sight were a far distance away eating something that looked like a person by a park. Matt shuddered and walked in the room.

He searched the room starting with the bathroom and worked his way through but found nothing. He continued on the the next room which had no door. Peering into the dark room sent a chill down his spine. He thought about his friends and fellow men that lost there lives and didn't want to end up like that. He knew he needed to be strong for the group, he led them to the camp promising that it was safe, and he failed. He knew it. He felt terrible and at fault. This was his life now though, and he knew he was going to have to get used to it, no matter how hard or painful it may be. He wanted to live.

This room was empty as well, but blood was smeared all over the two beds and bloody handprints were on the wall going towards the bathroom. Matt gulped as he slowly crept up to the closed bathroom door. He could hear something quietly moving. He stood there for a second, unsure if she should open the door.

"What if it's a person?" He wondered to himself. He also knew it could be someone infected and opening the door could be a bad idea. He decided what to do.

"He lifted his crowbar and kicked the door open, ready for an attack. Nothing happened. No infected running at him or any danger was seen. The bathroom was pitch black. He turned to leave but heard something again and froze in place. Something was in the tub. He could hear a kind of growling that sounded like the infected. He turned around slowly and still saw nothing.

"Matt! I found a couple of chocolate bars and a bottle of vodka. Couldn't find anything else though. Any luck?" Carter said quite loud as he walked into the same motel room.

Matt jumped and turned to Carter.

"You scared the shit out of me man!" He screamed.

Carter looked guilty.

"Sorry, I just thought you might be happy that I found some stuff."

"There's something in here." Matt whispered.

Carter slowly backed up before speaking again.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his voice shaky.

"I can hear something in the bath tub but it's too dark to see and I don't want to risk getting too close." He replied.

"Does it sound like one of them? Don't even bother if it is."

"I don't know, what if it's like a dog or something." Matt said unsure.

"I doubt a dog with be in there, and if it's not talking it's not a person so I suggest we go back now. This place is pretty empty but I managed to get two chocolate bars, we can split them with the others." Carter said turning to leave.

The two began to walk away but before Matt reached the door the two heard a thump in the bathroom and quickly turned around to look. Still, nothing could be seen as the room was too dark, aside from the light of the sun shining through the window, but it only lit up the beds. The bathroom and closet were completely dark.

The two stood still and stared right at the darkness that blocked there vision of the bathroom door. They could hear the sound of something brushing against the floor. What they saw was unforgettable.

A baby came crawling out of the darkness slowly, drenched in blood. It looked no more than a year old. It began to growl and move faster towards the two when it saw them. Both backed up into the parking lot and watched it crawl towards them.

"Oh my god." Carter said with intense fear in his voice.

Matt said nothing.

"What do we do?" Carter frantically looked around.

"There's nothing we can do." Matt answered, he sounded sad.

The baby got closer and Matt just stared into it's eyes.

"It's just a baby..." Carter whispered. "What would it be doing in the bathroom here?"

"Someone must have put it in there to protect it, doesn't look like it helped much though." He replied.

He bent down and looked closer at the child who'm was now almost at his feet. It got louder and reached up at him in a clawing motion. Matt looked over it's body and realized it was a boy. He felt sick to his stomach. He searched the body for some kind of bite or scratch but saw nothing.

"I'm not seeing any bites or scratches." He said as he stood up and walked over to Carter who was standing a few feet away from the baby.

"Maybe it was scratched lightly." Carter said. He turned and looked across the street at the pizza shop.

"We should go." He said.

Matt continued to stare at the child before speaking.

"Nobody's safe. What if this disease takes over the whole world? I've seen a lot of horrible things in my life. But this makes it to the top of my list." He said.

"There's still a chance it won't. But only time will tell. As long as we stick together maybe things will go okay." Carter said.

"Maybe." Matt answered.

He turned to Carter.

"Let's go."

They walked back to the shop.

"What took you so long?" Joyce asked, concerned.

"It took longer than we expected, we found a couple chocolate bars and some vodka though." Carter answered.

"That's the best news I've gotten in days." Amanda said happily. She walked over and grabbed the bottle from Carter and opened it. She took a large shot before placing it onto one of the tables.

"The town looks quite empty. Only infected people I saw were grouped up out by the park about three shops down to the right. How are we doing on gas?" Matt asked.

"Yeah about that.." Amanda said.

"I checked it while you were both gone. We have maybe enough for a couple hours of driving, maybe less." Joyce said.

"Fuck." Matt said, he angrily sat down.

"Maybe we can stay here? It seems like not many people lived here so the infected count must be low." Joyce said.

"No, I think we need to keep moving. Staying in one place to long could be dangerous. What if too many show up and we can't handle it? What then?" Matt asked.

"Then we stay together and we leave, but until then why don't we stay where we know it's safe. For all we know we could drive right into a crowd of them and be done for. I don't know about you but I'm certainly not okay with that." She replied.

"Well, I came to Terrace from Washington. My base is there and it's very secure. I think if we go to Alaska and move on to Seattle from there, we're lookin' at about a two day drive to Washington." Matt said.

"But what if those places are overrun?" Asked Amanda.

"Then we move on to somewhere else. I can't just stay here and wait to die." Matt started to get angry.

"Well without much gas we aren't going to make it very far in Alaska. What happens when we run out?" Joyce asked him.

"Then we walk until we find another vehicle, it can't be hard to find one." He replied.

"What if we try getting gas here? I think I saw a gas station on out way into town." Carter said.

"It looked destroyed and I don't want to risk going all the way there if it is a dead end." Matt answered.

"Look, we need to figure out a plan people. I truly believe that my base in Washington will still be okay. We have good defences and knew what was going on ahead of time. It may not be easy but I think this is a good plan and that it would be in our best interest to go. Before we end up getting overrun here."

"I say we do a vote." He said.

"What if it's a tie?" Asked Carter.

"We can draw straws."

"Okay I think that's fair I guess." Carter replied.

"What about if we don't get our way? Do we stick to our own plans?" Asked Joyce angrily.

"That decision can be made after." Matt replied.

The group sat down at a large table and Matt went to grab straws. He came back over and sat down.

"Okay. All in favour of travelling to Washington and heading to my base?" He asked as he raised his hand.

The other three sat there for a moment, unsure. But slowly, Carter raised his hand.

"That's two for my plan." Matt said, hand still raised.

"Carter are you serious? You are going to trust this man's judgement over mine? You've known him for four days and you're taking his side. I'm your mother." Joyce looked as if she was going to cry.

"I'm sorry mom, I just don't feel safe here. I think it would be safer to be around the military than in a pizza shop out in the open in a tiny town." He replied.

Joyce looked at him with a saddened gaze.

Amanda sat quietly.

"This decision needs to be made ladies, I'm sorry but you need to vote." Matt said.

Amanda looked at Joyce and then at Carter. She didn't know what to do. Joyce furiously put her hand in the air and said "I vote we stay."

"That's two for leaving and one for staying, it's up to you now Amanda." Matt said.

She looked at the group, they all stared at her waiting for her decision. She was scared and didn't know what she wanted. She knew leaving was a huge risk and having to walk until they find a vehicle could be dangerous, but so was staying in a small shop right in the center of a town. After thinking for about two minutes she looked at them all once again.

She raised her hand slowly before she spoke.

"I say we go, I guess." She sounded unsure and looked down."

"Well it's settled then." Matt replied.

"This is unbelievable, you're making a mistake." Joyce said to Amanda and Carter as she stood up and rushed to the bathroom.

Carter sat quietly, he felt immense guilt for not siding with his mother but he truly felt it wasn't safe, after he saw that baby he knew that no one was safe in the world anymore. Amanda got up and walked to the counter. She grabbed the bottle and sat down with the other two once again. She took a shot and pass it to Carter. He stared at it for a moment before taking a shot himself. He then passed it to Matt. Matt grabbed the bottle before he spoke.

"Tonight we should pack up, we haven't gathered much but I was going through our supplies and so far we have a first aid kit, some rope, a loaf and a half of bread and now those chocolate bars. I'm not sure how long we can survive on that but I think it should get us threw long enough, just until we find somewhere to gather supplies in Alaska." He said, then proceeded to take a shot.

He put the bottle down and looked up at the two of them.

"It's going to be hard, but we have to try." He said.

He stood up and walked to the kitchen door, before opening it he turned around to the others once again and said "Get a good rest tonight, we leave at 6 tomorrow morning."

End of Chapter 3.


	4. Alaska

Carter laid awake in bed, he checked his watch. It was 3:00 am. He was nervous about moving on and wondered if it really was safer.

_**"How have you been feeling since our last session?"**_

"I've been okay, I guess." Said Carter quietly.

Juliet was a tall woman with short black hair. She sat across from Carter beside a desk in an office while she held a pad of paper and a pen. Listening to him intently.

"Is home life good?" Juliet asked as she wrote something down quickly.

"I've been have some problems with John and my mom again." Carter stared at the floor.

"Tell me about that."

"Well, my mom has been drinking too much lately, it's been kind of worrying me. Now that she's getting drunk more she just lays around and complains she got a promotion recently but she still hardly works and money is tight right now, I got a job at a warehouse just to help pay bills and buy food. All I ever hear her do is bitch. I'm expected to keep everything clean around the house and cook dinner, while she's getting wasted in the living room watching some soap opera. John, he's no better. He is out of work right now because he feels he would rather lay at home doing nothing than help out. My mom sure picked a winner." Carter was almost crying. He sat slouched in his chair and rubbed his forehead. Juliet quietly but quickly wrote something down on her pad of paper before she spoke.

**_"Have you thought about talking to your stepfather privately about these things?" She asked in a kind voice._**

"No. I'm planning a trip to Hawaii with a friend. I'll probably stay there for about a week, so it will be time away from home that I really need. I just hope that when I get back we can try and put this shit behind us."  
  
**_"always possible to make positive changes in your life." Juliet wrote something down once again and smiled warmly._**

"Yeah, I'm really hoping to make some."  
  
Joyce awoke to the sound of people shuffling around the shop. She rolled over and lifted the shirt off her face and glared.

"Do you all need to be so damn loud?" She barked.

"Sorry Joyce but you need to get up, it's 5:30 and were going to leave soon." Matt answered as he put the crowbar and first aid kit in the Honda. Joyce quickly sat up.

"How is travelling in a car with little gas safer than staying here? We won't be able to survive out there on our own. We need shelter, we have that here! She seemed nervous.

"Joyce, it's our best bet. We can find shelter later on in the day. There are other places we can try."

"I'm not comfortable with this, you're all making a big mistake." Joyce jumped up and walked over to the counter. She grabbed the remaining vodka and walked into the kitchen letting the door swing behind her. Carter sighed and continued putting supplies into the car.

They spent the next twenty minutes packing. They had a first aid kit, still unused. As well as a rope, a crowbar, a long metal pipe, three kitchen knives, one loaf of bread, one chocolate bar, four cups, four plates and an M1911 pistol with no ammo. Amanda also had her purse with personal items in it.

"Are we going to need ammo and guns?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, I'm hoping when we get into Alaska we can stop in a small town and raid a gun shop and maybe a store for supplies." Matt replied.

"I hope we made the right call." Amanda said worried.

"Like I said, I honestly believe it's our best bet."

"I hope you're right." Amanda replied.

Amanda and Matt sat down in the car.

"I think we better go now." Matt said looking through the open car window at Carter.

"Okay, I'll go get my mom." He said, walking back into the shop. He walked into the kitchen and saw his mom sitting on the floor with the vodka bottle in her hand. It was empty.

"We need to get going now mom." He said.

"You're all stupid, you know that?" She said, words slurring. She glared at Carter.

"Mom sto-"

"We're all going to die you know." She said as she began to laugh hysterically.

"You're all fooling yourselves if you really think it's safe out there in the world. You're all wrong. This world is doomed. There's no hope. There's no going back Carter. Were all doomed. You, me, Amanda and Private whatever his name is are all done for. Why bother trying, it's inevitable." She continued to laugh.

Carter stood there shocked with tears streaming down his face.

"Why are you saying these things?" He asked fighting back his tears.

"It's only the truth." She stopped laughing and got up, stumbling a little before placing her body against the wall.

"I'm fucking tired of this. If you want to lay around and be a miserable, negative person than do it. I'm trying to hold our relationship together mom, I've really been trying. But you just keep doing stupid things or being rude. I'm done with this. You wanna' stay here and get drunk while waiting to die, fine. I love you to death but you have broken my heart and hurt me so much I just can't deal with it. I'm going in the car. We'll wait five minutes for you to get your fucking act together and come with us. If you aren't out there in five minutes, we'll leave. I swear to fucking god we will leave you mom. As much as it hurts me." He began to cry and walked out of the kitchen. Joyce stood there with a blank expression before looking down at the bottle. She threw the bottle against the wall, causing to shatter. She fell to the floor, put her hands on her face and began to sob.

"Is she coming?" Matt asked as Carter sat down in the car.

"I have no idea, I said she could have five minutes to make her decision."

"I hope she comes, she isn't safe alone." Matt replied.

Joyce slowly came walking out of the shop. She stopped outside the front door and looked around the area. Infected people wandered around in the distance. She stood there for a moment just taking in her surroundings before walking over to the car and opening the door. She sat down in the car and the group said nothing. Matt turned the car on and they drove through town to the Alaskan border and drover through. They were now officially in Alaska.

The area was full of trees, they drove down a single gravel road. There were no signs of the infected anywhere, a good sign. As they got further and further the road got better. They pass through a small town but it was filled with infected so they continued on. About an hour and a half had passed when they reached a small village like town. No infected in sight.

The car began to get slower and came to a halt. What they feared had happened. They had run out of gas. The group looked around, the place seemed clear but how safe could it really be?

"What are we going to do now?"Amanda sounded really scared.

"We find a new vehicle and supplies. We can leave our stuff in the car for now and come back for it when we get a new vehicle." Matt replied.

The group got out of the car and Matt opened the trunk. He grabbed the crowbar and handed the metal bar to Carter. The group walked a little ways down the main road looking at the shops and homes. They stopped at a small 7/11.

"This place could be a gold mine. It looks untouched!" Matt walked towards the front doors. The others followed behind. As they reached the door Carter heard what sounded like feet running. Before he had the chance to turn around he heard someone speak behind him.

"Drop your weapons. Everyone on the ground."

The group turned around to see two men with guns pointed at them. The man behind Carter was a bigger man, with a scruffy face and dark brown hair that had been shaved. He wore a red plaid shirt and brown pants. He looked to be in his mid 40's, the man that was beside him was much slimmer and had thick glasses. He had short blonde hair.

"Now." The bigger man barked jabbing his gun into Carter's chest.

"Get down on the ground." He yelled.

The group laid down the ground and the men searched them.

"Where's the rest of your people?" The skinnier man asked.

"It's just us." Matt said.

"Don't you lie to me boy." The bigger man pointed his gun at Matt's head.

"It's the truth I swear, we don't want any trouble."

The man looked at Matt's uniform for a moment before whispering something to his friend. The two stopped pointing there guns.

"Say uh, are you really a private officer?" The man in the glasses asked.

"Yep." Matt said angrily.

"Shit man, you got a base?" The bigger man asked.

"No, it's just us." He replied.

"What the hell are ya'll doing out here in the open? Trying to get yourselves killed?"

Joyce sneered after he spoke.

"We're moving on to Seattle hopefully." Matt replied.

"Seattle? What on earth with you go there for?" The big man spit.

"We are moving on to try and find a safe place to stay."

"A big city really isn't a good place to go, especially not with those lurker roaming around. Ya'll can stand up now by the way." The skinny man said. The group got up.

"Lurkers?" Amanda asked.

"Yea! Lurkers! That's what we've been calling them."

"I'm Ike." The skinnier man said.

"This is my brother Dominique."

"Call me Dom." He said.

"I'm Private Samson, this is Joyce, Amanda and Carter." Matt said.

"Sorry we couldn't have met on better terms guys, it's just hard to trust people ya' know? Last guy we let into our shelter stole a bunch of supplies and took off. You guys aren't like that are ya'?" Dom asked.

"Not at all." Matt said.

"Glad to hear it." Ike said.

"Did you guys want to come in? We were about to have some lunch, care to join? Ya'll sure do look hungry." Ike said.

"That would be great, thank you!" Amanda said.

The group all went into the store.

"It's not much but it's a shelter none the less. We've managed to gather quite a bit of supplies." Dom said while the group was given a quick tour.

"We've got tons of non perishable foods, and we have 15 water bottles left. Other than that though all we have are some guns and ammo." Ike said.

"You guys have weapons and ammo?" Matt asked.

"Don't get too excited, we don't plan on sharing them with you." Dom said in a rude tone.

The group all sat together and had a huge meal. For once they felt calm.

"When are ya'll planning on heading to Seattle?" Asked Dom.

"Pretty much today. We want to be there by tomorrow." Matt answered.

"Right on." Ike said.

"Say, do you guys even have a vehicle?" Asked Dom.

"Actually no, our car was left a little ways down the road, it's got some bread and other supplies in it." Matt said.

"That wasn't a good idea man, leavin' your stuff out there like that.. It could get stolen or the area could get overrun." Dom said as he chewed.

"I guess I didn't really think that through.." Matt replied.

"Kind of like all the decisions you've made?" Joyce asked.

"Mom." Carter growled.

"I'm sensing some issues here." Dom said staring at Joyce.

"No, everything's fine." Matt said.

No one spoke for a few moments as they all continued to eat, after dinner they cleaned up and sat back down.

"So I think that we should go back and gather our things, it's best we keep moving on. I think I saw a van on our way over here." Matt said.

"You sure you really want to do that man? I mean your not really armed." Ike said.

"I know what I'm doing." Matt sneered.

"Look, we have a truck parked in the back, we can drive ya' down to your car, bring a few guns and help you guys out, it's the least we can do." Ike said.

"Are you sure?" Asked Joyce.

"Totally, we all gotta' stick together." Dom said nodding.

The group gathered guns and ammo, each person was given a gun. The group went to the back and got into Dom's Chevy. Matt sat in the front seat with Ike in the middle. Dom drove and the other three sat in the back of the truck. They drove down the road and got closer to the car. Suddenly, Dom slammed on the breaks.

"What the hell man!" Ike yelled.

"Why'd you do that?" Matt asked.

Dom didn't say a word but pointed to the forest through his window. A herd was coming.

The herd had to be about 30 to 40 Lurkers, they all stumbled as they walked and were coming straight for them.

"Oh my god, we need to go now!" Amanda screamed.

All of a sudden more Lurkers came through the forest on the other side of the road and were coming towards the truck as well.

"Why are they coming all of a sudden?!" Joyce screamed as the Lurkers got much closer.

"It looks like that tree over there fell on the power line, maybe noise attracts these bastards." Dom said.

He put the truck in reverse and sped backwards, hitting a lurker in the process. He kept going. More and more of the infected came out of the forest. There had to be at least 100 coming from all directions growling and trying to get their next meal.

"They're everywhere! What the fuck are we gonna do'?!" Screamed Amanda.

Dom turned the car around and sped away, going back to the shelter. The group all got out of the truck and ran inside.

"Hey private?!" Dom yelled.

"What?" Asked Matt.

"How many Lurkers have ya'll killed?" He asked.

"They've never, I've killed a few."

"So your all inexperienced then?" Dom asked.

"Yeah why?"

"Cause those Lurkers are coming our way." Dom pointed outside. All of them were coming.

"Oh dear god." Joyce screamed clenching her gun in her hands.

The Lurkers reached the store and began banging on the windows and piling up against the front of the store.

"You said you were going to Seattle?" Asked Dom.

"That's right." Matt replied, staring at the infected.

"Mind if we tag along?" Asked Dom.

"We don't really have much of a choice man, we gotta' go now anyways, those things will be in here soon." Matt said.

With that the group quickly began grabbing non perishable food. Amanda ran to the guns and grabbed three and put them in her purse. She also began to fill her bag with ammo. Carter ran to the the box of water bottles and grabbed five, Joyce grabbed four. They all ran out the back door to the truck.

Lurkers were everywhere outside. Five were near the truck. Matt, Ike and Dom began shooting them down. The whole group quickly got into the truck and drove around the store and back onto the road. Dom sped down the road going out of town, he saw a couple Lurkers stumbling down the road.  
He drove faster and ran the two over, they both flew over the windshield and rolled onto the ground.

"Yeehaaaa!" Dom screamed as the group headed for their next destination, Seattle.

End of Chapter 4.


	5. Consequences

Ike and Matt slowly walked into a dark public washroom. They held their guns up, ready to shoot. They turned the corner and moved towards the stalls. Ike kicked the first one open and pointed his gun in. Nothing was there. He kicked down the second and third and still nothing. He went to kick in the fourth but a lurker came falling out of the stall in front of the two men. Ike jumped back and Matt took a knife from his pocket and stabbed it's head, killing it instantly.

"It never gets easier." Ike said, staring down at the corpse.

"Killing them I mean, they almost seem like they're still people."

"The way I see it is, they died. The things walking this earth aren't people, just wild animals." Matt replied.

"Come on." He said.

The two walked out of the bathroom and back into a small store. They walked through the isle to the front of it which was completely destroyed. Debris was everywhere. Large chunks of the walls were gone. It looked as if it had been bombed at some point.

They walked back onto the street, passing a 'Seattle Times' paper as they continued. They walked to a large parking lot a few blocks from the store, keeping an eye out for Lurkers. When they reached the front doors of the mall Matt knocked on the door ten times very quickly. A signal that the group had come up with upon taking refuge in a large Seattle mall.

The door swung open revealing Amanda behind it. She smiled, but she appeared worn down and sad. The two men nodded and walked in. They continued walking towards the centre of the mall which had a large fountain in the middle as Amanda pushed two fridges against the doors. She walked over the fountain where the men sat with Dom.

"Find anything when you were out?" Amanda asked, arms crossed.

"Just a couple cans of fruit, other than that nothing." Ike said.

"We're planning on going for a longer run tomorrow, probably out past the safe area." Matt said, taking a puff of a cigarette.

"You know that's not a good idea. The deal is that we stay in the area of town that isn't filled with Lurkers. Anywhere past the mini mart is a dead zone." Amanda said, concerned.

"We know love, but the areas cleaned out. We can't live off the food we brought much longer. We only have the three bottle left of water and the snacks we got from here. We're betting we've got maybe three days worth of food for all of us. It's time to expand our search. We won't be finding anything around here anymore." Dom said.

"Who would go?" She asked.

"Me, Dom and Ike of course." Matt said.

"Oh and leave the three weakest people here, yeah I don't think so. I want to come this time." She sounded determined.

"We need you here to look after the place. Carter needs you're help here." Matt said.

"Carter and Joyce will be okay, they can stay upstairs until we get back, hide in a store. I can give them a couple guns and ammo. They'll be fine." She said.

"Are you sure about this? You've never really gone out on a run before, or killed anything for that matter." Dom said.

"I want to help. I can do this, just give me a chance."

The three men looked at each other for a few seconds. Matt turned and looked back at her.

"All right, but you have to make one promise." He said.

"Sure, what?"

"Don't die."

"I'll be fine." She said as she turned and walked to the supplies room.

Carter stood on the roof of the mall. He held a shotgun in his hands and walked around the edge of the place. Joyce came through the door and walked onto the roof. Carter jumped and turned around.

"What are you doing up here?" He asked, turning back to the view of the streets.

"I want to talk." She said.

"Now's not really a good time."

"No time is ever a good time for you. We haven't talked since we got here Carter. It's been almost two weeks now. Please just talk to me. I want to apologize." She said.

"I don't want to hear it." Carter said as he walked back into the mall.

Joyce stood there for a moment. She was a mess. She hated herself so much for how she had treated her son, and she knew he would probably never be able to forgive her for the past, but she really wanted to try and fix their relationship. She watched a lurker walk past the mini mart in the distance before heading back inside.

The group all sat down at a large table that they scavenged from a furniture store in the mall. They all ate dinner together.

"Tomorrow we are going to go on another run. We're thinking Amanda should come along, it could be good practice for her." Ike said, taking a bite of his beef jerky.

"Amanda are you sure you want to go out there?" Joyce asked.

"I'm sure, I need to learn how to defend myself. I want to be able to help." She said, still positive she wanted to go.

"We're going to go tomorrow around noon. Probably gonna' head out by the hotel, see if we can maybe find some supplies there." Matt said.

"What if it's overrun?" Carter asked.

"It shouldn't be, Dom checked out the outer area of it and it seemed clear." Ike said, he sounded sure.

"Just be really careful okay?" Joyce said to all of them.

"Always are." Dom said smiling.

The group finished eating and all cleaned up. Carter headed back up to the roof to be lookout, Joyce went to bed and the other four sat at the table. Dom placed a deck of cards on the table and the group played poker with a poker set they found. For once They felt like they were having fun. Matt smiled as he thought to himself. He was relieved to finally be doing something that wasn't stressful. No concerns, just a good game with good people.

Carter walked back into the mall and went to the store him and Amanda were sharing as sleeping quarters. They had sleeping bags on the floor. He walked in and put his gun down before leaving and going to the bathroom. He looked at his hair. It was starting to get long. He turned on the battery powered razor he found and began to shave his head. When he finished he cleaned up the hair on the floor and went back up to the store. Amanda laid sleeping on the floor, curled up in her sleeping bag. Carter thought about their past while he laid down to go to sleep. He remembered how close they once were, and how they used to spend every day together. Now, they had seemed to have drifted. They were both so busy focussing on survival that they never spent any time together. Carter hoped she would be all right when she went on the run. He was worried she may not be able to defend herself.

Morning came and the group all got up and prepared for the day ahead. Amanda sat by the fountain pointing her gun towards the doors and just getting a feel of the gun, having never used one before. Carter walked over and sat down with her, she gave him a little smile and put the gun down.

"How are you?" He asked, handing her a piece of bread with peanut butter.

"I'm okay. I think I can do this." She said, though she almost sounded unsure.

"You don't have to go out there if you don't want to. You can stay here with me and my mom, it's not necessary to put yourself in danger." Carter said.

"It is necessary. We're not safe no matter where we are. I don't want to be some weak little girl. I want to be a fighter."

"Just don't do anything stupid. I need you." Carter replied.

"I'll be careful I promise." She grabbed his knee before standing up and walking over to Matt and Dom who were gathering weapons.

"When do we leave?" She asked.

"As soon as Ike comes down from the roof. He's just doing a quick lookout to make sure the area by the mini mart is clear." Dom said.

Joyce sat in her bed. She hadn't been feeling well and hadn't gotten much sleep. She felt like she was coming down with a cold so she took some cough medicine that she found before walking out to the group.

"Leaving already?" She asked as the four grabbed their guns.

"Yeah, we won't be too long. We'll try to be as fast as we can." Matt said, reassuringly.

Carter and Joyce watched and the four walked outside into the parking lot. They walked down to the street and two Lurkers came around the corner of a deli. Ike took his crowbar and bashed one's head into the concrete. The second one came towards Amanda and she gripped her knife in her hand, ready to kill it. She slowly back up a little as the lurker approached. The three men kept a bit of distance to let her try and take it down. She stepped forward and raised her knife as it came at her. She went to stab it's head but it grabbed hold of her arm and went in for a bite of her flesh.

Matt panicked and shot the thing right through the back of the head. Amanda scream as blood splattered all over her face.

"Are you bit?!" Yelled Matt.

"N-n-no. I don't think so." She said, with a horrified look on her face.

"You sure you want to do this? You can still head back in, it's not too late sugar." Dom said.

"I'm fine, I can do this." She said.

The group continued on down the streets, heading towards the large hotel. They moved on to the mini mart that Matt and Ike had scavenged earlier and walked past it. They walked further, no Lurkers still. They reached the hotel and it looked safe enough so they moved in closer.

Dom quietly ran to the front of the hotel and leaned his back against the wall, holding his gun up. The other three followed his lead. Dom turned and faced the front doors and kicked them in. The group entered the dark building.

No Lurkers were in sight as the four searched around. Amanda walked into the kitchen and checked the fridge. A rotting sandwich was the only contents. She continued to search through the kitchen while Matt and Ike searched the supply closet and Dom stayed look out. She opened a cabinet and found a bag of bread with four slices left and three potatoes. She put it all in her purse. She searched the rest of the room finding nothing, before she headed back into the lobby and met up with Dom.

Matt and Ike searched the supply closet for anything that could be of use to them. They found a few cloths and a mop. Matt grabbed the mop and broke it with his knee, creating a sharp end.

"Easy weapon and it's totally effective!" Matt said laughing.

They crossed the hall and went into the bathrooms. Nothing could be found in there either. They walked back out into the hall. As they continued down the hall they heard something fall. In the door on the right of Matt. Both men turned and looked at each other before Ike quickly opened the door to the pool room and the two walked in.

"Find anything useful?" Asked Dom, carving something to the wall with his knife.

"Just some potatoes and some bread." She said, sounding down.

"It's better than nothin'." Dom replied.

The two sat in silence as they waited for the other two.

"What's taking them so long? It's been fifteen minutes now." Amanda asked, turning to stare at the hall the two men had walked down.

"They're probably just doing a thorough search, just give them some time. We can go find them if their not back in ten minutes." Dom said, unconcerned.

Ike and Matt walked by the edge of the pool. They could hear something coming from the change rooms.

"Should we go in?" Asked Ike.

Matt nodded. They then opened the door and walked into the change rooms.

When Ike turned the corner he saw what was causing the noise. Lurkers.

Tons of them. All piled up in the change rooms feasting on what looked like three human bodies. The two men froze in place. The colour from Ike's face drained as the two men slowly backed away. The Lurkers had no idea the two men were in there as their backs were turned as they feasted on the flesh. Matt and Ike walked backed into the pool area and Ike let out a sigh of relief. He looked up and saw Matt staring in horror before pointing his gun by Ike's head.

Ike turned around and saw three Lurkers walking out of the sauna behind him. He ran backwards and pressed his back against the wall. Matt grabbed his knife and stabbed one lurker in the head. It felt to the floor. Ike took his crowbar and walked towards the next lurker while Matt distracted the other one. Ike lifted the crowbar and smacked the lurker's head against the wall. He accidentally hit the wall with his crowbar and the lurker fell into the pool. Matt stabbed the lurker's eye before looking up at Ike who was running for the door to the hall.

All the Lurkers that were in the change room came out into the pool area and began to walk towards Ike and Matt. Both men ran to the door and stumbled into the hall before yelling out to Amanda and Dom. They ran towards the lobby when all of a sudden the door to the pool room was knocked down and all the Lurkers contained were loose in the hall, coming for the group. Amanda and Dom ran around the corner and the whole group turned around and looked.

"Holy fuck!" Dom screamed as more Lurkers came out of the laundry room. There were about 70 all coming at the group. They ran in the opposite direction and headed for the front doors. Amanda opened the doors and ran outside along with Dom. Matt and Ike ran towards the doors but Ike suddenly tripped over the side of a couch in the lobby. He let out a cry for help and Matt stopped in his tracks and turned around. He saw Ike laying on the floor and the Lurkers coming closer. There wasn't much time.

"What's going on in there?!" Dom yelled, running back into the hotel, leaving Amanda outside. He came into the lobby and saw Matt running to Ike. Dom saw how close the Lurkers were to his brother and freaked out. He ran over to the things and began to stab them in the head, one by one. Matt lifted up Ike and they turned around and watched Dom stab the Lurkers. He had killed six. He went to stab another but a lurker came around his left side and knocked him off his feet and he fell to the floor. The lurker climbed down on top of him and he pushed it up a little just barely keeping it from biting him. It was snapping it's jaw in his face and growling. Ike screamed and ran to Dom's rescue. Matt stabbed two Lurkers in the head and moved on to kill more.

Amanda ran into the room and saw the commotion and was startled which caused her not to notice the lurker behind her. It grabbed her hair and she screamed. Ike was distracted by the scream and turned around to look at her. A lurker then grabbed Ike's throat and pulled him close, sinking it's teeth into the side of his face. He screamed in pain as it ate a piece of his skin. He fell to the ground. Dom witnessed this and threw the lurker off him. Stood up then shot it. He got up and shot the lurker that was about to take a bite out of Amanda in the head and Matt ran towards Amanda.

Dom looked down at his brother, he was laying there in total shock. He grabbed his brother, threw him over his shoulder and ran outside. Amanda and Matt followed behind him. The Lurkers followed them as well but couldn't keep up.

"Is he bit?!" Yelled Matt as the group ran in the direction of the mall. Dom said nothing, he just continued towards the shelter.

"Hey! Is he fucking bit?!" Amanda asked.

Dom turned to them and glared.

"It's just a small wound. It'll be fine." He said.

"Oh my god." Amanda said.

"He's fine!" Dom yelled

Matt and Amanda didn't say anything and the group walked back to the mall in silence.

When they reached the mall Amanda gave the secret knock and Carter opened the doors. He looked at Dom and Ike and knew something horrible had happened. The four came inside and Joyce walked into the room and gasped as they laid Ike down on the table.

"What happened?!" Asked Carter, quickly walking over to Ike. Joyce places her hands over her mouth when she saw the side of Ike's face. He still didn't say anything.

"A lurker got him." Amanda said quietly, staring at the floor.

Dom turned to her and gave her a disgusted look.

"My brother will be okay, shut your mouth. You don't know anything, you stupid whore." Dom said, angry.

"That's enough!" Matt exclaimed.

"We know what happens when people get bit. It's only going to be a matter of time before he turns now Dom." He said.

"He's right, brother." Ike said, his voice was raspy and weak.

"To hell he fuckin' is!" Dom screamed.

Matt placed his hand on Dom's shoulder and Dom turned around and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. He got on top of Matt and began punching him repeatedly in the face. Carter ran over and tried to get Dom off but Dom threw him off. Joyce ran over by the table and screamed at Dom to get off him. Amanda watched in disbelief.

That's when she noticed. Ike wasn't moving. She walked over to the table and looked down at Ike. His eyes slowly began to change. She backed up a little, horrified and lifted her gun. She knew what was about to happen. Joyce turned around and saw what was happening and watched as Ike reanimated. Dom stopped punching Matt and stood up, spitting on him. Matt laid on the floor unconscious.

He turned around and saw Ike sit back up. He had become one. Dom screamed and fell to his his knees in devastation. Amanda, who was distracted by Dom's yelling didn't realize what was happening in front of her. Ike grabbed her arm and pulled her close, knocking the gun from her hand. She screamed and Ike grabbed her hair with his other hand, going in for a bite of her head.

Joyce ran over and pushed Amanda to the floor before she was bit, but as Amanda hit the floor she looked up and watched a Ike grabbed Joyce by the back of her hair and took a chunk of flesh right out of her neck. She fell to the floor.

Carter got up and screamed at the top of his lungs. He grabbed a crowbar and threw Ike's reanimated corpse against the wall. He took the crowbar and bashed his head in. Carter was covered in Ike's blood.

Dom looked at the corpse of his brother and a blood drenched Carter, staring at Dom with a look full of burning hate and anger. He then looked down and saw what had happened to Joyce.

Carter ran at Dom and hit his arm with the crowbar. He stumbled backwards but then grabbed the crowbar from Carter and hit him in the stomach. Carter fell down in pain. Dom looked around and saw the horror that had ensued. He looked over at Amanda who looked into his eyes as she laid on the floor, helpless with tears streaming down her face.

He turned around and ran out the front doors of the mall, Amanda watched as he ran towards the mini mart and disappeared into the fog.

End of Chapter 5.


	6. The Road (Part One)

Amanda sat quietly on a dark colored log in a dense forest. Trees towered around her as she sat in front of a small blue tent with a bright fire crackling in front of it. She stared intently into the dark forest, clenching a water bottle in her hands. She let out a loud sigh before she got up off the log and walked over to the fire. She kicked a small amount of dirt over it and watched as it slowly died out before walking into the tent.

She walked in and saw Matt's clearly badly beaten body sprawled out on the floor of the tent covered by a dirty blanket. He was snoring and coughing in his sleep. Carter slept silently on the other end of the tent. Amanda placed her water bottle down and proceeded to lay down. she closed her eyes and slipped into sleep.

Carter awoke at the sound of buzzing coming from what sounded like a small distance away from their camp. He rubbed his eyes and quickly sat up, throwing his blanket off and crawling over to the tent door. He unzipped it and peeked outside. The air was cold and humid, it was early morning. He could see a small light coming towards the camp and the buzzing was getting louder. Thats when he realized. It was a group of men on dirtbikes.

The men were yelling at eachother as they got closer. Carter knew he needed to think fast. He pulled his head back into the tent and crawled over to Amanda and shook her to wake up.

"We have to leave, now!" he whispered as she opened her eyes.

With a shocked look on her face she turned to the side of the tent and listened to the buzzing before she clued in and jumped up. She grabbed her bag and started quickly throwing canned food and water bottles in it. Carter went over and got Matt up. He was coughing and barely awake when they heard the sound of a man outside the tent.

"Well look what we have here." The man said, his voice was scratchy.

Amanda turned to Carter, she was horrified.

"Run." Carter whispered.

Amanda threw her bag over her shoulder, picked up two small pistols and handed one to Carter. She put Matt's arm around her shoulder and helped him out of the tent. Carter followed behind, his pistol ready to shoot.

The three stepped outside to see a group of nine men, two of which were on dirt bikes and the rest stood behind them. All the men were holding guns.

One man who looked to be around 40 took a good look at the three before he began laughing.

"This is just too great." He said, still laughing.

Amanda looked at Carter. Carter turned his head towards the woods behind them, signalling for her to run. She looked back at the men in front of them, she was still helping Matt stand.

"Tie em' up, we'll bring them back to camp." One man sitting on a green dirtbike said.

Three men raised their guns and began walking towards the group. Amanda looked at Carter again. He was staring back at her, white as a ghost. He mouthed the word go.

She lifted her gun and shot it at a tree. The men looked shocked. She turned, supporting Matt and the two ran into the woods. The men began to shoot at them but the bullets flew by as they disappeared into the woods.

The men were yelling and the three sent to tie them up ran after them. Carter stood in place. He took a deep breath, lifted his gun, closed his eyes and fired two shots straight at the group.

One man on a dirtbike was shot in the shoulder and the other shot just missed another man. They began shooting at Carter but Carter ran behind a tree beside the tent before running in the direction Amanda and Matt had gone. Bullets flew past him as he ran. All the men who stayed behind at the camp were now following him and shooting.

Carter continued running in Amanda's direction, trying to zig zag his way to them. Bullets flew by. The men weren't far behind. Suddenly the man he shot on the dirtbike came out from behind a tree and bashed Carter in the face with the back of his gun, knocking Carter to the ground. Blood began to pour from his nose.

"I'm going to fucking kill you and your little girlfriend." The man said, angry as he held the wound on his shoulder. Carter didn't waste any time and rolled to the side, grabbed a large stick and got up. He smacked the guy in his face and he continued to run. He could hear the men still following behind. He looked back for a split second and tripped over a tree root and began to roll down the side of a hill. As he rolled down he smacked his foot on the side of a rock and let out a scream. He continued to roll until he landed in a small creek.

"I- I need to stop, please just for one second." Matt whispered, trying to catch his breath as him and Amanda supported eachother and ran. They were running in a field, the forest was not far behind them. A creek could be seen not too far ahead of them with a smaller forest just up ahead from it.

"We don't know how far behind us they are, we have to keep moving." Amanda replied, clearly exhausted. The two continued to the creek before Matt fell to his knees. He put his hand on his chest and tried to catch his breath. Amanda looked around quickly, taking in her surroundings before looking back down at Matt.

"If we continue through this forest ahead we should find a road right? I mean, it looks like the forest isn't as thick." She sounded unsure.

Matt said nothing.

"What do we do?" She looked at him again before looking back into the bigger forest they had just ran from. No men were in sight.

"Are you going to answer me?" She began to get angry.

"I don't know what to do!" She said.

"We can figure it out once we take a rest." Matt said. He rubbed his forehead and looked at the creek. He was in bad shape.

"We've rested long enough, we need to go. Carter will probably be around here somewhere. We should keep going." Amanda was really scared.

Matt coughed as he slowly got up. Amanda went to put his arm around her but he shook her arm off and limped ahead of her. She stared at him for a moment before she followed behind into the smaller forest. Leaving the creek behind.

Carter looked up at the hill. He could hear the men approaching. He stood up and winced in pain as he limped onto a grassy field from the creek. He shivered in his wet clothes and walked towards a small trail just ahead. He looked up at the hill once more, the men were just about there. He began to jog towards the trail, dragging his foot behind him and gripping his pistol.

He reached the trail and walked down it for what felt like an hour. His clothes stuck to him, they were still quite wet. He decided to start walking into the right of the woods from his current position and then turn back in the direction he was going after a short ways, so if the men went down the trail they wouldn't be able to find him.

He walked in the woods for about twenty minutes before he turned back in the direction he had been going. After an hour he was still in the small forest, but he had noticed it was getting more and more barren. He took a rest and sat on a stump, staring at his gun. He was terrified, he had never been on his own like this before and he had nothing. Amanda had taken food and water along with a gun, but he had only brought the one gun. He checked the bullets.

"Three shots left." He whispered to himself as he stood back up and continued walking.

Carter came out of the small forest and into a small area of grass. A wire fence was shielding a highway. He let out a sigh of relief and began to jog to the road. Hey crawled under the fence and stood in the middle of the highway, looking around for any signs of Amanda and Matt. Nothing was around. The highway was running through an empty field that stretched on for as far as he could see. He sat down on the side of the road and put his hands on his face.

He thought about his mom, and how much he missed her. She had died in his arms in Seattle, after being bit on the neck by Ike. Carter had passed out after taking a blow to the stomach from Dom. When he awoke Matt was laying a few feet away, unconscious and Amanda was nowhere in sight, neither was Dom.

"Keep it together, just have to keep it together." Carter said out loud, wiping tears from his face. He sat in place for a while, staring up into the sky, the sun shining on his face. He decided it would be best to wait on the highway for a while, to see if maybe Amanda and Matt passed through. He could see all around him and no lurkers were near.

"If they don't come around by dark, i'll have to move on." Carter thought to himself, he was clueless about where to go next.

Amanda and Matt emerged from the small forest they had walked into and wandered into a campground. A tent was sitting in the middle of one campsite ahead of them and a few trailers and RV's could be seen scattered around in other parts of the campground. They walked over to the tent and Amanda looked inside. Nothing. Just blankets scattered. She seemed disappointed as she looked around.

"Do you think Carter is around here? Maybe he got into an RV?" Amanda sounded a little hopeful.

Matt looked at her with a sad look in his eyes.

"He was behind us when they were shooting." He spoke quietly.

"Yeah, but he would have ran too. I know Carter a lot better than you do." She sounded mad.

"He'll be around here somewhere, and we're going to find him." She walked onto the main trail of the campsite and headed towards a large white RV. Matt did the same. She looked around the outside of the RV for anything of use or any signs of Carter but there was nothing. She looked at Matt and pointed to the door of the RV, signalling for him to be ready when she opened it. He nodded and she raised her gun in one hand and pulled the door open, running a bit backwards. She pointed her gun towards the door. Nothing happened. She walked back over to the RV.

"Come on." She said.

The two went inside the RV and looked around. Nobody was inside but Matt found a can of beans inside a cupboard and handed it to Amanda to keep in her bag.

"Did you see if Carter had any supplies with him?" Amanda asked, sounding worried.

"I don't know." He answered.

"Fuck, I can't remember." Amanda continued looking around.

"We should keep moving, there's nothing here." Matt said, proceeding to leave the RV.

Amanda glared and went to leave but stopped in the doorway before going back in and heading to the front of the RV. She looked to see if there were keys. She smiled and called out to Matt.

"I think we might be getting a little good luck!" She said, sitting down in the driver's seat. Matt ran back in and stood behind her seat.

"What?" He asked.

"Keys. We can drive this thing out of here!" She sounded a little excited. She crossed her fingers and turned the keys. No gas.

"Why is this happening to us. What did I ever do to deserve this?" Amanda began to cry.

Matt put his hand on her shoulder and looked down at her.

"Let's go." He said to her.

"Maybe Carter will be in another area around here."

"I thought you'd given up on him." She said, still sobbing.

"I haven't given up, I just don't want you to build your expectations too high."

"He's here somewhere, he has to be. I need him." She stood up and wiped her tears.

The two got out of the RV and headed back down the main trail. They reached the next campsite and were about to walk over when they heard the sound of a lurker. Amanda turned around fast. Matt stood still. Amanda saw two lurkers come out from the woods and slowly walk towards them. She began to shake. The two backed away. Then Matt grabbed Amanda's arm and pulled her towards the campsite. They reached it when a bigger group of lurkers came walking into it.

"What are we going to do?!" Amanda cried.

"We need to leave, we can't take these guys on our own." Matt replied.

They backed up onto the main trail once again before turning around and running towards the exit of the campground. The sign read "Welcome to Camp Strake."

Carter sat on the side of the highway throwing rocks out into the field in front of him. His clothes were now dry but the sun was in it's early stages of setting. It looked like it was around 7:00 pm. He looked around to see if there was anyone or anything in sight but there was still nothing. He was losing hope quickly.

He stood up and stretched before he started walking a little down the highway, looking for any sort of sign of a town or city. He wasn't sure where he was. After the incident at the mall, the group had decided that they would continue on the Washington, Matt wanted to move to somewhere they would be safer. They all felt the three of them staying in a big mall wouldn't be a good idea in the long run so they packed up and moved on. They went in the direction of washington and had been walking for about a day down a highway, taking sleeping breaks every few hours before they decided to go a little ways into the forest and set up camp for the night. They had planned to continue on down the highway to Washington that following morning, but the group of men had foiled that plan.

Carter wondered if this was the same highway that the group had been following, he couldn't be sure until he found a sign. He walked further down the road and still found no signs of anything anywhere. Nothing but fields. He looked at the sun again, it was getting lower. He began getting nervous. What if he never saw Amanda again, she was his only friend in this word now, and now she was gone, maybe even dead. He sat down again and thought to himself.

He was about to get up again when he saw something. In the distance down the highway, a car could be seen coming his way. Carter's eyes widened. He grabbed his gun and ran into the field, ducking down through the fence. He ran away from the highway but there was nowhere to hide, it was all open field. He began panicking as the car came up, he turned around and saw it stop where he had been sitting. He watched in horror as the blue cars doors flew open and two people stepped out of the car. Two women stood outside the car staring at Carter. They were unarmed. One women wearing a leather jacket with blonde hair looked at the women standing beside her and whispered something before they both looked back at him. He began backing away and then turned around and started running away again, he couldn't trust people, not now. Even if they did have a car.

"Wait! Stop!" One women yelled. He ignored her and kept going. Both women began to chase after him.

"Just hold on a second kid! You can trust us!" The blonde woman shouted.

Carter stopped and turned around, staring at the two women suspiciously. The blonde woman looked to be in her early 20's, she wore a leather jacket over a white tank top and a black pair of heeled boots over a pair of skinny jeans. The women beside her had darker blonde hair and wore a striped hoodie with sweatpants and flipflops. Neither woman seemed too intimidating so Carter calmed down a little.

"Are you okay? What are you doing out here by yourself?" The darker blonde asked.

"I was seperated from my friends. I'm just trying to find them, I don't want any trouble." He said.

"We don't mean you any harm we promise! I'm Serena and this is my cousin Carrie." The lighter blonde said.

"Carter."

"Listen, it's going to be dark soon. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be outside all alone, especially with everything that's happened. Do you want to come with us? We have some food, it's not much but it's something.." Serena said.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea. My friend's might still be out here." He answered.

"We're going down the highway, it would be safer to travel in a group in a vehicle than it would be out here all alone. We're heading to Washington, we heard a radio broadcast inviting survivors to join a new community there. They say it's safe. Won't you come? I don't want to leave you to die out here. We can keep an eye out for your friends, maybe they're heading in that direction." Carrie said.

"You can trust us, we promise." Carrie said, giving him a small smile.

Carter looked at the Highway again, then at the forest he had come from before looking back at the two women. For a moment, he said nothing. But then he looked down and nodded.

"Okay." His voice was shaky.

The two women nodded and guided him back to their car. He sat down in the back and Serena started the car. The three began driving towards Washington, unsure of what the future had in store.

To Be Continued.

End Of Chapter 6 (Part One)


	7. The Road (Part Two)

_**"I love you Carter, I just want you to know th-"**__****_

_**Joyce laid in Carter's arms as he cried. She looked at him for a second, rubbing his head with her hand before she looked up at the ceiling and passed away.**__****_

_**Carter began to shout and scream. Crying uncontrollably. He placed his mom down on the floor and walked over to Matt.**__****_

_**"AMANDA!"**__****_

_**"AMANDA!" He fell to his knees and put his hands behind his head.**__****_

_**Amanda came rushing back into the mall. She was crying too. She ran over to Carter and kneeled down beside him.**__****_

_**"I'm so sorry." She spoke softly.**__****_

_**Carter looked at her with a blank expression, saying nothing.**__****_

_**Matt began coughing up blood and Amanda rushed over to help him. Carter sat in the same position, no thoughts going through his head. Just nothing. Amanda helped Matt sit up and ran to get water.**_

"Oh my god!"

Carter looked out his window and saw what Serena was screaming about. She stopped the car and looked at Carrie who was shocked.

Amanda and Matt came running out of a small trail by the highway, a campground could be seen behind them. They ran towards the car. Amanda waved her arms signaling for them to wait.

"Those are my friends!" Carter exclaimed before unbuckling his seat belt and getting out of the car. He ran towards his friends. Amanda smiled when she saw him and began to run faster. Matt ran behind her. She reached Carter and gave him a huge hug for a moment before she let go and looked at him.

"Where the fuck were you?" She said, still smiling.

"I tried to catch up to you but I fell and didn't know where you were!" Carter replied.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Amanda looked over to the car.

"Who are they.." She asked, suspiciously, looking back at Carter.

Serena and Carrie stood beside their car. Serena stared at Amanda and Matt intently while Carrie looked down at the ground.

"I met up with them earlier, I waited by the highway for you guys but when they came I thought it might be a better plan to drive a little and see if we could find you!" He said.

"How do we know if we can trust them." She said, looking at the two girls again.

"They were telling me about a possible safe zone in Washington, it could be safe there. They seem normal to me and were going that way anyway." Carter replied.

"They don't seem like much of a threat." Matt said, staring at Serena, who looked back at him for a second before turning away and saying something to Carrie.

"I don't know. We don't need to repeat past mistakes." Amanda said.

"There's three of us and two of them, even if they are a threat to us we can handle them." Carter said.

"We have guns, it doesn't seem like they do."

Amanda looked at Matt, he was still recovering from Dom's assault. She thought about going with the two girls for a second.

"I still don't know." She said.

"Do you have a better plan?" Carter asked.

"Yeah, sticking with people we know we can trust and not two random chicks from the side of the road. It just seems shady that they just happened to be cruising by." She didn't sound like she was buying it.

"We can't just stay out here, it's late and I'm almost out of ammo." Carter said.

"I have more." Amanda pulled a small amount of ammo from her bag.

"I have food too, but it sure isn't going to be enough to feed two more people." She glared at the girls. Carrie looked down again.

"We should go. We don't know if we'll make it out here and I don't want to take a chance. I'm in no shape to be running around in the dark." Matt said.

"I'm trusting you guys. This better be a good idea." Amanda said, walking towards the car. The other two followed behind her. Serena and Carrie sat back in the car and Carter helped Matt sit down in the middle before getting in. Amanda got in the other side and closed her door. The car started up and the group continued driving.

Amanda stared at Serena while she drove, looking her over for any weapons. She noticed a small knife in a belt she wore over her jeans. She held her gun on her lap.

"Where are we." Amanda asked, expecting an answer.

"Uh, Montana I believe, we should be in Missoula soon." Serena answered, not taking her eyes off the road.

Amanda slouched down in her seat, looking back out the window. She quickly turned her head back again.

"Where are you two from?" She asked.

"Macon, Georgia." Serena said.

"That's a long ways. What are you two doing all the way out here?" Matt asked.

Serena looked at Carrie before she spoke.

"Our mom lives in Vancouver." She cut herself off.

"Lived." She said, correcting herself. Carrie looked at her.

"I'm sorry." Matt said.

"Thanks." Serena replied.

Hours went by and the group finally reached Missoula, cars were scattered across the highway. There was no room to go any further.

"Fuck." Serena said, unbuckling her seat group all got out the car and walked towards the cars. They scattered on a long ways down the highway going into the city of Missoula, Montana. Matt walked over to a black car and tried to push it, he grunted and stopped. It didn't move an inch.

"It could take hours to even make a little room." Serena said. Carrie walked over to her and stood close beside her.

"Looks like we'll have to walk it, just until we can find a clearing in the highway and a vehicle." Matt said, looking out into the distance.

"We can't just leave our car!" Carrie said, looking at her cousin.

"We're going to have to." Serena whispered.

"Come on, let's get our stuff." Serena said as she walked towards the car. The group all gathered their things and stepped back outside. It was early morning, probably around five. The weather was clear. No dead in site. The group stayed close as the walked further down the highway. Carrie stopped for a moment and looked back at the car before frowning and turning back to the group and catching up to them.

The group entered the town. They walked further in and kept an eye out for an Lurkers. When they reached a large four way Carrie and Serena sat down on a bench for a short break and Carter and Amanda kept an eye out, staying close to each other. Matt looked at the street signs, figuring out which way they needed to go.

"It looks like we keep heading straight and we should eventually exit the city." Matt said, looking over at Amanda and Carter. They turned around and walked over to him.

"Okay, let's go." Serena said, confidently, as she stood up and walked over with Carrie. Amanda stared at Carrie for a second. She could tell Carrie seemed to be kind of nervous to be outside. She always seemed to be cowering behind Serena.

The group continued walking down the road. They passed tons of stores and restaurants. Carter looked at a McDonalds, his stomach growled loudly. He turned to Amanda who was walking beside him.

"Do you have any granola bars left?" He asked her.

She gave him a small smile and stopped walking, she started searching through her bag. Matt turned around and stopped walking as well, waiting for his friends. Serena and Carrie stopped and Serena looked over at a street that turned to the right. Her face got very serious and she grabbed Carrie's arm.

"We need to hurry. How much farther?" She asked, backing up towards the group.

"About a half hour maybe. Why?" Matt asked, turning to her. He looked in the same direction as Serena and looked back at Amanda and Carter.

"We're going to have to run out of here. No stopping." Matt said. Amanda looked up and saw a huge heard of hundreds of Lurkers coming down a street just ahead of them. The street they needed to go down was next to the herd.

The group started running and passed the herd. Carrie's eyes widened as she looked over while running and the herd began walking towards them as they ran. She was horrified. The group kept running and the herd got further and further behind. They reached the outskirts of the city and stopped running. It was clear of cars and Lurkers. Carter wiped the sweat from his head and put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Amanda handed him a bottle of water. He smiled and took a small sip of it before handing it back to her.

"It doesn't look like there's any cars around here, we'll have to keep going on foot until we reach a gas station or something." Matt said, looking around.

"I don't know if I can keep walking much longer." Carrie said, quietly.

"We don't have any other options." Amanda glared at Carrie.

"Let's just go, we need to keep moving." Serena said, she adjusted her backpack and starting walking further away from the city ahead of the group. They all continued on behind her. Carter walked beside Carrie, he turned to her while they walked.

"I'm sure we'll find somewhere to rest for the night soon." He said to her.

"I hope so, I'm really tired." She said, not looking up from her feet.

Suddenly a loud bang went off. The group stopped in their tracks and all looked around frantically. It had been a gun shot. Amanda quickly pulled out her gun and Serena got her knife ready. Matt looked over at a large hill beside the highway and saw two men arguing at the top of the hill. They hadn't seen the group, they just continued to argue with each other but nobody could make out what they were saying. Carrie let out a scream and the group was caught off guard when a woman's pregnant body was kicked down the kill. It rolled down into the ditch from the steep hill and revealed a gun shot wound to the head. Carrie's scream had alerted the two men and they were now running down after the group.

"Carrie run!" Serena yelled as the group ran in the direction of Washington, they all ran on the side of the highway. The men were yelling and sounded angry. Carter and Amanda were running ahead of the group. Carter heard another gun shot go off and watched a bullet zip past his head. His eyes went huge. He ran even faster.

"Go into the woods, stay together!" Matt yelled, he was furthest behind. Carrie was not too far ahead of him.

Serena turned and ran into the woods first, Carter ran behind her. He didn't look back. He couldn't think clearly, all that he could think was just run. He stayed close behind Serena. She wasn't stopping. He heard two more gunshots go off and turned around. Matt and Amanda were behind him, but Carrie was nowhere in sight. He stopped running.

"Where's Carrie!" He yelled at Amanda. She turned and looked behind her.

"I thought she was with you guys!" She yelled. One more gunshot went off and flew past Matt. Amanda looked behind her again and screamed. The men were approaching. Running straight for the group. They all started running again. Carter couldn't see Serena anymore. She must have continued running when he stopped. The three kept running, the group still behind them. Carter reached the outside of the forest and ran into a small dirt pit. He ran and his behind a small dirt hill. Amanda and Matt came running out of the woods.

Serena came out of the woods and looked at the two men following behind Amanda and Matt. She picked up a rock and ran over to Carter.

"Carrie's running back to the highway. We have to go back that way." She said, her voice was cracking.

"Okay." Carter stood back up and pointed back towards the highway to Amanda and Matt, who immediately ran into a different part of the woods. Carter knew what he had to do. He pulled his gun out and pointed it towards the two men. Serena gripped the rock and prepared to throw it. When the two men emerged, Serena threw a rock at a man on the right and hit him in the side of the head, knocking him off balance. Carter shot at the other man but missed and the man fired a shot. It missed Carter by a sliver.

"We tried, we need to leave." Serena said, running for the woods. Carter ran behind her. The men continued shooting and chased after them. They ran all the way back to the highway when Carrie, Amanda and Matt stood waiting.

"Keep running!" Serena shouted, not stopping. The group continued running down the highway. The men came out of the woods once again and stopped when they reached the highway. The group was quite far ahead of them.

Matt looked behind him and watched the men shake their heads and walk back over to the hill and drag the body behind it. Amanda saw what he had just witnessed and shuddered.

The sky was getting dark. Night was approaching. Rain began pouring as the group miserably walked down the dark highway. They reached a small rest stop and all sat down at a picnic table.

"Looks like we're going to be staying here tonight." Matt said.

"I'm not sleeping in an outhouse." Amanda said, disgusted.

"It's our only option." Matt replied.

"Me and Carrie will take the women's." Serena stood up and her and Carrie walked into the women's outhouse for the night.

"I guess we'll have to share the-"

Amanda, Carter and Matt all looked at the outhouses. Serena was screaming hysterically.

End Of Chapter 7.


	8. Trust

Matt, Amanda and Carter all jumped up from their seats. They ran to the outhouses where Serena was yelling. When the group reached the outhouse Matt ran to Serena. She was standing in front of a young man.

"Let her go!" Serena screamed at him.

He had Carrie held close to him with a large piece of glass from a broken bottle on the ground to her neck. She cried and was whispering something nobody could hear. Serena had her knife out.

"Are you from there!" The boy yelled, he looked to be in his early 20's and looked like he had been badly beaten.

"Just calm down, let our friend go. We can talk." Matt calmly said to the boy. The boy pulled Carrie closer and held her tighter.

"I swear to god I'll kill her. You're not taking me back there!" The boy screamed.

"We don't know what you're talking about!" Carrie sobbed.

"Shut up, bitch!" The boy slammed her against the wall and placed the sharp end of the glass on the back of her neck just lightly enough not to break the skin. She cried and yelled as blood poured down the side of her head.

Serena ran at the boy and punched him in the face. He fell to the ground unconscious mumbling something inaudible. Serena went over to Carrie and hugged her before helping her walk back outside. Serena glared at Matt as she walked by.

"What do we do with him?" Carter asked, looking at Matt.

"He doesn't have any weapons, just leave him for now." Matt replied, walking outside. Carter and Amanda followed behind.

They walked over to Serena who was holding Carrie's head on her shoulder while she cried. Serena had put a bandage on Carrie's wound.

"We're not staying here." Serena said, not looking away from Carrie.

"There's nowhere else to go." Matt replied.

"It's not safe here. Me and Carrie never had any problems when we had a vehicle and just kept moving. Staying in one place too long is too risky, look what just happened!" Serena was getting angry.

All of a sudden a large black ford came speeding into the rest stop. The group jumped up once again and Serena held Carrie close. Amanda slowly pulled out her pistol as two men jumped out of the truck and walked over to the group. Matt stood his ground but the rest of the group backed up a little, not sure what to do. The men came up and stood a few feet away. A tall man wearing a plaid shirt and jeans spoke.

"Hey there, sorry to startle ya'll like this but we're looking for someone, maybe you might of seen him?" The man spoke kindly.

"He's a short guy, bout' yay tall. Goes by Marcus?" The man said.

Serena stepped forward.

"There's a boy in there, he attacked us." She said, pointing to the outhouses. The men looked over before the tall man nodded at the other and he walked over to the outhouse and went inside.

"What are you all doing out here in the dark?" The man asked.

"Just passing through." Matt said.

"Where ya' headed?" He asked.

"Missoula." Matt replied. Amanda looked at Carter confused.

"Found him Adam, he was passed out in the washroom. Little fucker couldn't even make it far." The other man said, dragging Marcus out. He threw him to the ground and put hand cuffs on him before bringing him back up to his feet and guiding him into the truck. Marcus was clearly still out of it. Adam shook his head with a small smile and looked back up at the group.

"What are you going to Missoula for?" Adam asked, suspiciously.

"Trying to find some place safe." Matt answered.

"Well why didn't ya' just say so!" Adam said. His smile grew big.

"We've got a camp just a few miles towards Missoula, why don't you come with us? The more people the better! We have tons of food."

"That's okay." Matt said quickly.

Carrie looked up at her cousin with a hopeful look. Serena looked at Adam unsure.

"Well maybe you don't all feel that way." Adam replied, looking at Carrie's hopeful expression.

"We should go, I'm tired of running. I want to be somewhere safe." Carrie whispered to her cousin. Serena shook her head.

"No. We keep moving." Serena said. Matt nodded.

Carter looked at Amanda before looking at Matt.

"Maybe we should give it a chance. They restrained that guy that attacked Carrie. If they wanted to hurt us wouldn't they have done it by now?" Carter whispered.

"Exactly. We mean you no harm. You can trust us." Adam said, still smiling.

Carrie walked over to Adam and stopped beside him, turning around and looking at Serena.

"I'm tired Serena, I can't keep running. I want to go." She said.

"You're staying with me!" Serena said angrily.

"If you want to stay with me then come, I'm done running. This is a good thing." Carrie replied. Serena glared at Adam who stopped smiling and got serious.

"Look, we have people to get back to. Are the rest of ya' gonna' come or what? Last chance guys." He said.

"How many people are in your group?" Carter asked.

"14, including me and my buddy Samuel over there." Adam replied, nodding towards the truck.

Carter turned to Amanda.

"Let's go, we can finally just breathe. This is a chance to start over!" Carter smiled a little.

"Are you kidding? I can't believe you're trusting random people again!" Amanda said.

"I'm going." Carter said, turning and walking over to Carrie who greeted him with a smile.

Amanda and sighed angrily and walked over to Carter and Carrie.

"I'm going to regret this." She said.

Serena looked at Matt and he shrugged, his face was full of concern though. He walked to the rest of the group and Serena bit her tongue and followed the group to the truck. Adam sat down in the driver's seat and started the truck while the group all sat down in the back. Carrie held Serena's hand as the truck pulled onto the highway and headed towards the camp.

The drive took about 20 minutes, they we're heading back in the direction they had come. The truck turned onto a dirt road at the side of the highway and sped up. Carter saw two lurkers walking towards the truck but get left behind in the dust. The road continued for about 15 minutes and eventually ended at a large pit, similar to the one the group had found previously, though this one was much bigger and had a dense forest surrounding it. Adam and Samuel got out of the truck and brought Marcus out. Samuel held him up as he was still in a daze.

"Here we are!" Adam said as the group got out of the back of the ford.

"Home sweet home." He said. The group all looked down into the large shallow pit. Cars were surrounding a small camp. They had been turned on their sides and were being used as a fence. Surrounding the cars was numerous sharpened poles with barb wire strung around them, making a barb wire fence. The camp wasn't large, it consisted of six large tents and a large fire pit in the middle. Carrie hugged her sister and picked up her bag. The group followed Adam, Samuel and Marcus down a hill and into the camp.

The group came over to a large car and watched as an old man and another guy pushed it out of the way. They entered the camp.

"Good you found him!" The old man said, looking at Marcus.

"Who are these people?" The younger man who moved the car said, looking them all over.

"Found them just up the highway, their newbies!" Samuel said snickering while him and the old man brought Marcus into a big tent. Carter saw a woman that looked to be in her mid forties sitting in the tent staring at him nervously, she had a little girl sitting in her lap. Carter looked back at Adam when Samuel zipped the tent door shut.

"Newbies huh, well come on I'll show you around then. I'm Noah." The younger man said. Adam nodded at the group before heading over to a big tent beside the one the others had gone into. The group followed Noah throughout the camp while he showed them around.

He brought them over to the large campfire in the middle of the pit. A young boy around ten was sitting with a man in his mid 40's. A 12 year old girl sat beside them.

"This is Will and his son Ty, his family is the newest arrivals, aside from you guys of course." Noah said.

Ty looked up at the group, as did Will. Will gave them a warm smile and stood up.

"It's great to meet you all." Will said, shaking each of their hands before sitting back down with his son. The young girl sat quietly and didn't even look up, she just stared at the fire. The group continued on their tour.

"Will's family came here about a week ago from Missoula, great people. His wife is Heather, you may have seen her and her daughter Sydney in the council's tent."

"The council?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, it's our group's leaders. Adam is in charge and Samuel is second in command. Heather and her husband are a part of it as well. So is Deb, you'll meet her later." Noah replied.

Noah brought the group to a small tent and two people came out. One was a boy about 19 and the other was a girl that looked like she may be in her early 20's.

"This is Kelly and Ashton." Kelly smiled and gave a small wave. Ashton looked at Carrie and gave her a smile. He then shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you." He said as he let go of her hand. She blushed a little.

"You too." She said.

Noah brought the group to a big tent at the back of the camp.

"This is where you guys will be living. It's not much but it's shelter none the less!" He said.

"It's perfect!" Carrie said happily.

"No more running!"

"If you guys need anything just let me know. My tent's just across from Kelly and Ashton's." Noah said, walking away.

"Thanks!" Carter said, going into the tent.

The group all got in and put their things that they brought away. They all sat down. It had been a long night, none of them had slept and by the time they had all gotten settled in the tent the sun was rising.

"I still don't know about this. It seems too good to be true." Serena said to the group.

"That's exactly what I think. Why would that guy want to leave so bad? He was unstable, and clearly had been beaten up, if he didn't want to come back why would they cuff him and drag him back here..?" Amanda asked.

"Would it kill you guys to have even just a little hope?" Carrie said, angered.

"He attacked me, maybe they are trying to keep him from hurting other people. Maybe he didn't want to come back because he did something and didn't want to suffer the consequences." She said.

"Carrie we don't know if we can trust these people. We don't know anything about them." Serena said, Amanda nodded.

"I know this is a good thing, I trust them." Carrie said as she walked out of the tent.

End Of Chapter 8.


	9. Say It Ain't So

Amanda lifted a large bow. She withdrew a silver arrow from a black pouch that rested on her side. She placed the arrow in the bow and pulled the wire, ready to fire. She released the wire and the arrow flew towards a large spray painted wooden target. It hit the board, just missing the center. Amanda looked disappointed. She put the bow down and took a seat on a rock. She reached into her purse and grabbed a bag of cookies and water and started eating. She liked having time alone, the area was quite nice. It was a large pit in a big green forest with a large lake just a ten minute walk away. It had been four days since the group had joined the strangers from the rest stop. Amanda had become fond of Heather and her children but nobody else seemed trustworthy enough for her. She hardly trusted Serena or Carrie either, but she was keeping her eyes open and she was keeping tabs on the people around her. She knew in her gut something wasn't right about this place, and she was going to figure it out.

"Nice shot."

Amanda looked up, Will stood in front of her. Ty was standing behind his father, looking at Amanda smiling.

"Thanks." She replied, looking over at the target.

"I wish I could hit the middle once in a while though!" Amanda said, smiling.

"Yeah well, practice makes perfect!" Will said, he lifted up Ty who was laughing and smiled at him.

"Well we just came to tell you that your friend Carter was looking for you." Will said, looking down at Amanda again, Ty still in his arms.

"Oh, okay thanks. I guess I'll head back now then." Amanda replied, standing up and getting her things together.

The three walked back to the front of the camp together. Noah and Samuel nodded at them and moved the cars out of the way. They walked back into the camp.

Will and Ty walked over to the fire and greeted Heather with a hug. Amanda smiled as she watched Ty show his mom a picture he drew.

She walked towards her tent and saw Carrie and Ashton sitting on a log by his tent, laughing together and talking. She rolled her eyes. Carrie was sure about the camp, Amanda wasn't trusting Carrie's judgment at all.

Amanda got to the tent and went inside. Carter was sitting alone on a sleeping bag.

"What's up?" Amanda asked. She sat down beside him, putting her stuff down behind her.

"Do you trust Adam?" Carter asked, he looked at Amanda concerned.

"Not in the slightest, why do you know something?" She asked suspiciously.

"No, no, I just find it weird that Deb and Neil haven't come back from their run yet. It's been days! Adam doesn't seem worried at all. Have you even seen Marcus? What happened to him?" Carter sounded worried.

"Now you think something's wrong? When were already here! Why couldn't you have made this realization days ago?" Amanda was not impressed.

"I knew something was up, we're so out of here." Amanda stood up and grabbed her bag.

"What are you doing?" Carter asked quietly as Amanda walked to the tent's entrance.

"I'm going to talk to Adam." Amanda said, walking away.

"No, don't!" Carter said. She kept walking.

Amanda looked around the camp, she couldn't find Adam so she walked over to Samuel, who'm she spotted smoking by a turned car. He looked shocked to see her come up to him.

"Where's Adam?" She demanded.

"He's out on a run at the moment, maybe I could be of assistance." Samuel gave her a smoochy face. Amanda looked disgusted and rolled her eyes, walking back towards the campfire, Samuel laughed to himself.

She saw Serena talking to Noah by his tent and became suspicious, stopping in her tracks. She waited, arms crossed, until Noah walked away and Serena walked over to the campfire to approach her.

"What was that about?" Amanda asked her in a bitchy tone.

"Excuse me?" Serena asked, glaring at Amanda.

"You and Noah, I couldn't help but notice you guys talking over there. You looked worried." Amanda said, raising her eyebrow.

"I don't know why you don't trust me, I saved your ass and all i've gotten from you since we met is an attitude." Serena's voice got louder.

Amanda was about to speak again but Serena shook her head and brushed her hair back. She turned around and walked away, leaving Amanda standing by the fire, Heather sat alone across from Amanda. Amanda hadn't noticed she had been sitting there. She looked concerned. Amanda turned and walked back to her tent.

"Come on it'll be fun!" Ashton said, smiling. He was sitting in his tent across from Carrie. She laughed before she answered.

"No way, we could get in so much trouble." She smiled.

"We'll be back before anyone even knows we were gone." He replied. He pulled out a small bag a marijuana and a pack of zig zag rolling papers. Carrie gasped.

"It's good shit. Come on, we'll walk a little ways into the woods and get blazed. I found this in Noah's stuff. Please, I don't want to go alone!" He begged.

"I don't know."

"Come on." Ashton continued to beg, shaking the bag in front of Carrie who was still smiling at him.

"Why can't we just do it here?" Carrie asked.

"Cause' if Noah finds out I took some of his stash he'll kill me." He replied. He then stood up.

"Please? It'll only be like twenty minutes." He put his hand out to Carrie. She looked at his hand and then at Ashton before getting up.

"Fine, let's go."

Matt sat with Greg in his tent. Greg passed him a beer and sat down across from him, taking a big gulp. He placed his bottle down beside him.

"You know, it sure is kind of you to look out for those kids you have with ya'." Greg stared at Matt.

"Yeah, I guess." Matt took a sip of his beer, looking down.

"Where were you all headed before you found us?" Greg asked, taking another sip of his beer.

"We were planning on going to Washington. There's a safe zone that's supposed to be there so we thought we might as well try and go there."

Greg shook his head and cackled, startling Matt.

"Washington! That shithole's probably infested with lurkers. Good thing you found us or you would have been their dinner!" Greg kept laughing. Matt stared at him awkwardly.

Serena saw Adam return to the camp. He spoke to Samuel before going into the Council's tent. Serena got up from her spot by the campfire and walked over to the tent. The entrance was zipped up but she could hear Adam speaking to someone but she couldn't make out who it was.

"...is dead...Neil...that's..." Adam's voice was hard to hear.

"What are you doing?"

Serena turned around, startled. Noah stood in front of her, glaring with his arms crossed. Serena quickly turned to her left and picked up a pale of water.

"I was just getting water for my laundry." She said quickly.

"Laundry station's that way." He replied, pointing to a small tent beside a smoking Samuel.

"Right, yeah.." Serena said, she looked down and quickly walked towards the laundry station. Noah watched her, glaring suspiciously.

Carrie and Ashton laughed as they ran into the woods. They stopped by the lake and sat down on a large boulder. Carrie looked around. She thought the lake was beautiful.

She turned her head back to Ashton who was carefully rolling a joint on the surface of the boulder. It took him a few minutes. After he finished he put away the weed and rolling papers and sat down next to Carrie. They both faced the lake.

Ashton put the joint to his lips and lit the end. He inhaled for a few seconds before passing it to Carrie. He exhaled, blowing smoke into the fresh air.

"Have you ever lit up before?" Ashton asked.

"No, I've been around friend's who've done it, but I never have." Carrie took a small puff of the joint and coughed. She passed it back to Ashton. He stared at her smiling.

"What?" Carrie asked, looking back at him.

He stared at her quietly for a moment. She looked down at his lips and his eye's lowered to hers. They both moved in closer and began to kiss. Ashton flicked the joint into the lake and wrapped his arms around Carrie.

**BANG.******

  
A gunshot went off. Carrie froze and looked at Ashton. He wasn't moving anymore.

"Ashton..?" She whispered, crawling out from under him a little.

He fell into the lake. Carrie put her hands over her mouth when she saw it. His back had been shot. Blood began spreading throughout the lake, he laid face down in the water, lifeless.

Another gunshot went off. It sped past Carrie's head. She started screaming and clumsily ran into the forest towards the camp. She desperately screamed for help.

Amanda walked out of her tent and saw Adam walking towards the fire. She figured it was a good time to ask him questions. She hurried over to him.

"Adam can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked, walking beside him towards the fire.

"It's going to have to wait." He walked faster ahead of her and stopped in front of the fire. Amanda stood behind him. Everyone was sitting by the fire except for Carrie and Ashton.

"Everyone, I need your attention. This is a very serious matter." Adam said. Everyone turned to him, they were all listening with concern.

"I've just been informed that Deb has been killed."

The group gasped. Amanda's eye's widened.

"She had been giving a group nearby supplies, stolen from us. Her, Neil and Marcus were all in on it." Adam said.

"Why?!" Heather asked in shock. She held her daughter close to her. Will picked up his son.

"Neil was a scout for them all along, he convinced Marcus and Deb to give supplies to his group. When Deb refused to cooperate any longer they shot her. Neil has gone back with them and we have Marcus being kept as prisoner here. He isn't trustworthy. "

"Before Neil went back with them he told me they won't take no for an answer."

"What does that mean?" Serena asked.

"It means they're coming." Adam replied.

Everyone was shocked. Suddenly, screams could be heard just outside the front of the camp. It was Carrie, hysterically crying and banging on the cars.

"HELP ME, PLEASE!" She sobbed, kicking the cars.

Samuel moved one car a little and Carrie came stumbling in.

"What happened?! Where the fuck were you?!" Serena yelled at Carrie.

"Ashton's dead." Carrie cried.

The group was overcome with fear.

A loud bang occurred. Carter felt a bullet zip passed him and heard it collide with something behind him. Score began to go out in the camp as more bullets flew by. Carter looked behind him and saw Greg's body laying behind him. He'd been shot in the chest. Carter stumbled backwards and puked. Bullets flew by him as he wiped his face and ran after the retreating camp members. Shouts of the gunmen could be heard coming closer.

End Of Chapter 9.


	10. Up In Flames

Amanda and Carter rummaged through their tent quickly, screaming was heard all throughout the camp, the sounds of gunfire were deafening and constant. The gunmen had entered. Amanda was throwing food and supplies in her bag while Carter searched around for weapons. They were running out of time. Carter lifted his sleeping bag and found his pistol, he picked it up and turned to Amanda.

"Let's go!" He shouted at her. She put her bag over her shoulder and followed Carter quickly out of the tent.

Carrie and Serena crouched down behind the laundry tent. Carrie was quietly crying while Serena was peeking around the side of the tent, looking out for gunmen. The gunfire had ceased and she could see three men walking together towards the campfire. She couldn't see any of her group members. The men walked over to the fire and stood together, talking. They were all looking around them with their guns ready, prepared to shoot any surviving camp members. Serena pulled her head back behind the tent. Carrie looked at her, terrified.

"What do we do?!" Carrie whispered, crying.

"Did you see where everyone ran?" Serena demanded. Carrie continued to cry uncontrollably, not answering.

"Carrie!" Serena whispered louder, grabbing Carrie's shoulders and looking at her.

"Did you see where everyone ran?" Serena asked again.

"No, I don't know!" Carrie whispered. Serena let go of Carrie and peeked back at the campfire. All the men were now standing around. They had dragged Greg's body by the campfire. She watched in horror as two men picked up the old man's body and dropped him into the fire. Thick smoke went up into the air. Serena turned back to Carrie behind the tent. She looked towards the entrance of the camp, the men had knocked the two cars out of the way and there was a large opening. Serena looked back at the fire again, two men were coming her way. Carrie started to panic, her breathing got louder and faster. The men searched inside the tent beside the one Serena and Carrie were hiding behind and Serena knew she needed to think quickly. She looked at Carrie.

"We need to run." She said.

"You need to start running for the entrance, don't stop or look back, just run."

"What about you?! What if they see us!" Carrie cried harder.

"I'll be right behind you. Go now!" Serena said.

Carrie stood up slightly reluctantly. She looked at the tent to the left of them before turning to the direction of the entrance on her right. It was quite far away. She turned back to her cousin.

"I can't do this Serena, I can't!" She was panicking. Then, the men came out of the tent and started walking over to the entrance of the tent they were hiding behind, they walked in. Serena put her finger to her lips and gave Carrie a stern look. She pointed angrily towards the entrance. Carrie looked at her and then at the tent. They could hear the men moving around inside.

Serena mouthed the word run and Carrie turned around. She ran for the entrance. Serena followed behind her, they both crouched down as they ran, ducking behind each tent on their way to the entrance. Carrie reached the final tent and snuck around it. She exited the camp through the entrance unseen, running behind an overturned car close by. Serena ran to the entrance only to be grabbed by a man. He pulled her back and threw her to the ground. She let out a grunt when she hit the ground.

"I've got one over here!" The man shouted, smiling at Serena. She laid on the ground defenseless. Two men ran over. They picked up a resisting Serena and dragged her over to the campfire, she shouted and frantically moved around but it was no use. Carrie watched from behind the shelter of an overturned car as the men dragged her cousin to the fire and set her down on a log with her hands cuffed behind her back. A man came up and said something to the men, they all went off in different directions searching the camp for more survivors. Carrie squinted at the man who had spoke to the men. She recognized him from somewhere, she was terrified when she realized who he was.

It was one of the men who had shot the pregnant woman on the hill that the group had come across upon leaving Missoula.

Matt and a young girl from the camp walked passed the lake by the camp, Matt had escaped by climbing over a car and crawling under the fence. He had helped the young girl escape with him, he had found her cowering behind him, Amanda and Carter's tent. He had asked her, her name which she revealed was Kylie, he remembered her from when the group had first arrived at the camp. She had been sitting by the fire with Will and his son Ty, she never talked much and the group only saw her wandering about once in a while throughout the camp. Matt had been informed by Adam that she had came across the camp alone, orphaned. She had been staying there ever since.

The two walked passed the lake and further into the woods before Matt sat down on a stump and took a rest. Kylie sat down on the moss beside him.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, concerned.

"Ye-yea I'm okay I think." she replied. Matt looked back in the direction of the camp. He feared the worst. There was no more gunfire and Matt was worried that nobody made it. He looked back to Kylie.

"Did you see my friends?" He asked her.

"I saw that red haired girl run into a tent, I think.." She said, though her voice made her sound unsure.

Matt stared towards the camp again, he began thinking about what the next move should be.

Amanda and Carter stood with Adam, Noah, Heather, Kelly, Will, and Will and Heather's children. They were all standing inside the council's tent. Adam was pacing around quickly, trying to devise a plan. The gunmen were still outside in the camp searching, they had yet to check the tent next to the entrance. The group could hear the men searching through the tent next door. Adam rushed over to a large wooden box, locked with a master lock. He unlocked it with a key and started pulling out guns. He handed one to Noah, then one to Amanda, one to Kelly and he kept one for himself. He stood in front of the group.

"I'm not going to let everything we worked so hard to create be ruined by these men. We stay and we fight. We take back what's ours. Don't be afraid, we're survivors and we're not going to go out without a fight." He said.

"Heather and Will, when those men come in here I am going to take them out, I want you to take the kids and get to my truck, it's parked just up the hill by the road. When you get there wait until we reach you before you leave. If we don't reach you in ten minutes, drive. Go up the highway and head away from Missoula, can you do that?" He spoke to them in a stern voice.

Will held his wife's hand and looked at her. She put both her hands on his hand, smiling. She looked back at Adam and nodded. She picked up her daughter and Will picked up their son. Both kids were crying quietly. The group heard the sound of the gunmen's footsteps coming to the tent and prepared to fire. The men reached the tent entrance and slowly began unzipping the tent door. The group raised their guns and Will's family prepared to run. The door opened.

"I know who you are." Serena said, blood was dripping down the side of her face from a small gash on her forehead. She glared at the man who shot the pregnant woman.

"I know you too, love." The man answered, looking at her intently. He reached up and grabbed her chin but she turned her head away quickly. He pulled his arm back and snickered. Serena looked at him angrily again.

"You're Neil aren't you." She said.

"Well aren't you bright, how'd you guess?" His tone was eerie.

"That woman, Deb. You killed her didn't you. She was pregnant." Serena was disgusted.

"Indeed." He said, looking over at the fire. He didn't show any signs of remorse.

"You're pathetic." She said.

"Maybe, but at least I'll be surviving the night." He looked her directly in the eyes, smiling. She felt a chill go up her spine. Then, a gunshot rang out throughout the camp. Neil jumped up from his seat and looked over at the council's tent, all his men had gone inside. He ran towards the noise as Serena watched from the campfire.

Carter fell to the floor of the tent. His ears were ringing. A man jumped on top of him and began punching him in the face. Carter used his hands to shield his face and he took the punches. The man was too strong. Will and Heather had ran off with their children, they had went for the truck. Amanda was being held down by another man across from Carter. She screamed, trying to reach over for her pistol, which she had dropped when a man punched her in the gut. More gunfire went off and Carter looked to his left. Adam had shot and killed two of the men and was struggling to fight with another. Kelly was seen by Amanda cowering in the corner of the tent crying, she still had a small pistol in her hands. Amanda shouted at her to do something but she was too scared to move. Neil entered the tent and looked around. He was furious, he saw two of his men on the ground dead and snapped.

Neil raised his gun and pointed it at Kelly. She looked up, tears streaming down her face begging to be let go. She mouthed the word please but before she could finish Neil shot her in the head and her body went limp, her head tilted to her shoulder and she was gone. Amanda witnessed the ordeal and began screaming louder. She pushed the man off her and rolled to her gun, picking it up. She lifted it and pulled the trigger, it shot the man behind Neil in the stomach and Neil lifted his gun up to her. Amanda pulled the trigger of her pistol while aiming at Neil.

**Click.******

She had no ammo left. She looked horrified at Neil who had his head back and was laughing. He looked back at her and pointed his gun at her head. She closed her eyes and waited.

A gunshot went off.

Amanda opened her eyes, she was okay. She looked back up at Neil who was now being restrained on the ground by Adam, the man that had attacked Adam was now dead. Adam had killed him.

Adam handcuffed Neil and got back up. He picked a gun up off the ground and fired it at the man on top of Carter. He was killed instantly. Carter crawled out from under him, now crying, his face was covered in blood. Amanda and Noah ran over to him and helped him sit up. Adam looked behind Amanda and saw the gunmen who attacked Amanda, he was trying to crawl away. He shot him through the head. Adam dropped his gun, clearly broken from what he had done to the men.

Neil laid on the ground laughing hysterically. Noah, Amanda and Carter all looked at him shocked. He was staring outside the tent. Amanda and Noah were terrified to see what was wandering outside.

The gunfire had attracted a herd of lurkers. Tons of them. Adam stared at the undead, almost in a catatonic state. He watched as a group of them stumbled into the camp and led the larger group of lurkers in with them. Everything he had worked so hard for was now gone.

"We gotta' go!" Noah screamed. He picked up a gun and fired three shots at the herd, killing one lurker. It's blood splattered everywhere. Amanda helped Carter out of the tent and brought him through the entrance of the camp, she helped him limp away from the herd and towards the hill where the group had decided to meet up. The herd was huge, hundreds could be seen wandering from the forest out into the pit.

"Come on, It's gonna' be okay." Amanda whispered as Carter cried, they walked towards the hill. A small group of lurkers followed behind them.

"Adam!"

"Adam!"

"ADAM!" Noah screamed, shaking Adam. Lurkers were everywhere. The two men still stood in the council's tent. Adam stared out into the camp with a blank expression, just watching the lurkers come for him. Noah pulled him out of the tent and dragged him over to the entrance of the camp. Adam stopped and turned around at the camp. He looked at Neil once more, Neil screamed in pain as a group of lurkers crawled onto him and began ripping into his flesh. Adam turned around and followed Noah towards the hill. Neil cries could still be heard from outside the camp.

Adam and Carter reached the top of the hill. Carter sat down exhausted and Amanda looked around. The truck was gone.

"FUCK!" Amanda screamed. Carter stared down at the camp. Hundreds of lurkers roamed around the camp, the campfire still burned bright. Amanda turned back to Carter and looked in the same direction he was looking at. She felt slight relief when she saw Matt running out of the woods towards the lake, he had spotted them on the hill and was coming their way. Behind him Amanda could see Kylie and Samuel.

Noah and Adam reached the top of the hill. Amanda nodded a Noah in greeting.

"They left..?" Noah asked, he sounded extremely upset.

Amanda nodded, she crouched down in front of Carter and wiped his bloodied face with a small rag from her purse. Matt, Samuel and Kylie reached the top of the hill. Amanda ran over to Matt and gave him a hug.

"Thank god you're okay." She said, letting go of him. He smiled a little and walked over to Carter.

"You okay man?" He asked, concerned. Carter looked up at him.

"I'll live.." He didn't sound completely certain.

"Where's Carrie and Serena?!" Matt asked, he looked around.

"And Kelly?" He looked at the rest of the group.

Noah shook and his head and looked down.

"They didn't make it." He said.

Matt and Carter's faces showed extreme sorrow. Amanda looked down.

"What are we gonna' do?" Amanda asked, standing up and looking at the group.

"I think we should stick to the original plan now, we go to Washington." Matt said.

"Will we even be able to make it out there?" Noah asked.

"We did okay before, now that we have a larger number it will most likely be easier." Matt said.

"There's a good chance we might meet up with Will and Heather again. They couldn't of gotten too far, and they'll have to run out of gas eventually." Matt said again.

"So that's it then? We just move on?" Noah asked.

"It's our best bet of survival." Matt replied.

"Everyone okay with that plan?" he asked.

Carter and Amanda nodded. Kylie got close to Matt. Noah looked at a still upset Adam and spoke.

"Yeah, let's go." Noah said.

The group took one last look together at the overrun camp. They all took a moment before turning around one by one, heading down the road to the highway. Carter was the last one standing at the hilltop, he kept looking around the camp for any signs of Carrie or Serena but there were none. He wasn't sure if they were okay and didn't know if he should go without searching for them but the group wanted to move on. He told himself if they did survive they'd be okay. They had survived on their own before meeting him. Then he realized what he should do.

Carter ran over to Amanda and asked her for paper. She searched through her bad and found the old rag she used to clean off Carter's face. He took it and used blood from his face to write on the rag.

"Go to Washington." He wrote before placing the rag down on the ground and taking one last long look at the camp. He turned around and walked with Amanda over to the group. They all started walking together again, heading for Washington.

Serena watched Neil go into the tent. She struggled on the log trying to squeeze her hands out of the hand cuffs but couldn't. She heard yelling and more gunshots go off in the tent. She moved her legs around and managed to get out of the rope that held her legs together. She stood up and looked around for a weapon. Neil had taken her knife when they had captured her. She ran to Kelly and Ashton's tent and went inside. She looked around for something to use to destroy the cuffs. Nothing of use was in there. She frantically looked around with her arms still pinned behind her back. She looked outside of the tent and saw a herd of lurkers coming into the camp. She began panicking and ran out of the tent for Carter and Amanda's tent at the opposite end of the camp from the entrance. She reached their tent and went inside. She could hear more yelling and the sound of lurkers coming from all directions. She rummaged through the tent until she found a small knife. She sat down beside the knife and pulled her arms out from under her legs slowly, wincing in pain. Her hands were now in front of her now and she reached over and picked up the knife. She got up and ran outside. A lurker grabbed her as she exited the tent and she fell on her back. A large herd was coming towards her.

The lurker fell on top of her and she held her breath while she lifted her cuffed hands and stabbed the lurker in the top of the head. It's blood sprayed all over her upper body. She screamed and threw the dead lurker off her. She got up and ran behind Carter and Amanda's tent. She stopped for a second looking at the overturned cars in front of her before she slipped through a small opening in between two cars. She ran but stopped just at the fence. She turned back to the camp and watched the lurkers claw at her with their hands, trying to reach at her through the cars. They began to pile up against the cars and a creak was heard as a car fell upside down. Serena was startled and turned back to the fence, she slid under and ran towards the entrance of the camp. A lurker stumbled towards her but she stabbed it in the eye with the knife and kept moving.

She reached the entrance and saw the truck still up on the hill. She ran towards it yelling for it to wait. She got half way to the hill when they truck started and sped away, going down the road to the highway. Serena stopped running and fell to her knees. She clenched the knife in her cuffed hands and stared angrily at the top of the hill. Lurkers could be seen slowly creeping towards her from behind. She caught her breath for a moment before turning to look at the undead and running for the hill again. She reached the hill and stopped at the road. She could see the truck driving away, it was almost out of her view. She turned back to the camp, looking around.

"CARRIE!?" She screamed, looking around for her cousin. Serena backed up when she saw the small herd had made its way halfway up the hill towards her. She had never been more afraid, she was alone now. She had nothing. Serena looked at the camp again, it was full of lurkers. She turned around and ran in the direction the truck had gone. 

End Of Chapter 10.


End file.
